Spirited Away 2: Remembrance
by RAYNeeDAYZ
Summary: With no memory of her time in the Spirit Realm that took place more than seven years ago, Chihiro Ogino is content with being a normal teenager. However, an encounter with an other-worldly being forces her to rethink her past, and she soon finds herself in a world where she has supposedly been before.
1. Dust and Dirt

**Summary: With no memory of her time in the Spirit Realm that took place more than seven years ago, Chihiro Ogino is content with being a normal teenager. However, an encounter with an other-worldly being forces her to rethink her past, and she soon finds herself in a world where she has supposedly been before.**

**A/N If you've been following my first _Spirited Away _story at any given time, you're going to kill me. And if you are one of the few readers who got to read the first two chapters of the second _Spirited Away _story I put online for approximately twenty-two hours, you're going to kill me as well. *For those of you that don't understand, I recently wrote a second _SA _fanfiction but quickly deleted the story altogether since it was that bad. I published it on New Year's Eve since I didn't have anything better to do (insert _Forever Alone _meme here), so not many people know about it. **

**Anyways, I know that I haven't updated to my first story in quite some time. I really don't have a legitimate reason other than the fact that I think it sucks. I guess that's common in every hobby/profession in the sense that somebody will start a work, leave it alone for a while, then come back to it and realize that he/she can do much better than what was left behind. So while I'll finish the story eventually, I just really wanted to start a new one since inspiration has finally hit me again.**

* * *

"Come with me."

"For the millionth time, no."

"Why not?" Kagura demanded, moving to stand over the bed where her friend laid. "You don't even know where we're going."

"I don't care."

"Then come! It's not like you're doing anything else right now."

Pathetically enough, it was true. Chihiro Ogino had made absolutely no plans for her Saturday night, and she'd intended on keeping it that way.

It's not like she didn't enjoy having fun. In fact, she detested boredom and sought out anything that was considered remotely enjoyable by a third-year in high school. She'd attended more than one party during the summer with her friends. While she'd never done anything illegal like drugs or underage drinking, she did socialize with fellow peers and dance the night away.

But it wasn't summer anymore. It was fall, and just on the brink of winter, too. Nobody was throwing any parties now, not that it mattered. Kids her age were currently in their respective houses curled up in their respective beds, trying to refill the energy that was lost during the school week. Which is exactly what she'd been trying to do, until Kagura invited herself over to recruit help for a school project.

"I don't care if I'm not doing anything," Chihiro said, rolling on her side, away from her friend. "The last thing I want to do is a school project. I had four tests this week, and I'm exhausted. Go away."

"Oh, c'mon," Kagura begged. "I need you. I still have so much to do, and I haven't even started!"

"When is it due?" Chihiro asked, her voice slightly muffled by her comforter.

"This Monday."

"And when was it assigned?"

"Two months ago."

Chihiro rolled back over to throw her friend a disdainful glance. "You're pathetic."

Contrary to popular belief, Kagura was smart. Incredibly so, actually. She never earned anything less than an _A_ on any of her tests, and she had always been in the top five percentile of her class.

Unfortunately, she just so happened to be the world's most skilled procrastinator in the history of procrastination. She could, and often did, postpone any assignment until the very last minute.

"_I'm _pathetic? Look at you!" Kagura gestured to Chihiro's body, wrapped up like a sushi roll in a multitude of sheets and blankets. "My grandmother looks more lively than you. And she's been dead for five years!"

"I already told you. I'm tired." Chihiro forced a yawn to back up her statement. "And don't drag me into your school affairs. You should have started this project a while ago."

"Jeez, what _is _it with everyone lately?" Kagura asked, her eyes cast upward as if waiting for the heavens to give her the answer. "Mai was in bed today, too. You're all so... bleh."

"I can't believe you're not _bleh. _How do you still have this much energy by the end of the week?"

"Probably the coffee."

"Oh, right," Chihiro mumbled into her pillow. "How could I forget the fifteen cups of coffee you drink per day?"

"Fifteen?" Kagura repeated offendedly. "The most cups I've had in a day is only ten."

"Only?" Chihiro asked, managing to add some degree of disbelief to her sleep-deprived voice.

"Yes, only. The record is eighty-two cups in seven hours. And you're changing the subject." Kagura reached over and stripped the comforter off of Chihiro. "Come with me."

Chihiro shivered against the suddenly cool air, her arm fumbling for the blanket. "No."

"Why not?" Kagura demanded of her friend once again.

Chihiro grabbed the comforter back. "Do you think that asking the same question over and over again will eventually result in a different answer?"

"That's what I'm hoping for."

"I can't go anywhere. I have work to do."

"Nice try. But I think you're forgetting the fact that we've known each other since middle school. If you did have work to do, you'd be getting it out of the way right now instead of lying in bed like a dead person."

Damn. Kagura was sharp.

"My parents won't let me go," Chihiro tried.

"Ah, the classic excuse." Kagura shook her head. "Please. Your parents aren't even here."

"Yeah, but -"

"But nothing. They're far more lenient than my parents when it comes to going out. Besides, where we're going is just a few minutes away. I promise."

Chihiro raked her brain for any other excuse. She found none.

Kagura sighed impatiently. "You're a terrible liar, by the way."

Chihiro turned groggily toward Kagura. "You really want me to go?"

"Yes."

Chihiro sighed. She knew she'd eventually give in to Kagura's request. She always did.

No wonder Kagura's nickname was "Miss Relentless."

"Please?" Kagura asked, proceeding to sit on her blanket-wrapped friend. "Please please please please please -"

"Alright, fine!" Chihiro snapped, sitting up. The sudden movement caused Kagura to fall backwards off the bed and onto the floor. "I'll go with you."

"Yay!" Kagura clapped from her place on the floor.

Normally, Chihiro would have laughed hysterically at her friend's fall, but four tests and an endless supply of homework given over the span of less than a week could definitely leave a teenager feeling drained. That, combined with the fact that the coffee-obsessed, procrastinating Miss Relentless was pestering her on a weekend night did not make Chihiro a very happy camper.

"You know, on some days – today especially – I wonder why I'm even friends with you," Chihiro said as she pushed herself out of bed, directing her gaze to her friend who was still applauding on the floor.

"Because I'm awesome?" Kagura suggested, not at all bothered by Chihiro's hostility as she flipped a blonde strand of hair behind her shoulder.

Chihiro shuffled to her closet on the other end of the room. "If that's the case, then I'll have to ask you to crank this supposed awesomeness down a few notches. It's annoying." She opened her closet and grabbed her winter fleece. She quickly shrugged it on and grabbed her cellphone from her nightstand. "You owe me for this."

"Yeah, yeah," Kagura said. She grabbed Chihiro by the arm and began leading her out of the room and down the stairwell.

"Wait," Chihiro said, stumbling along as she held her phone up to her face.

"Are you texting somebody?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"My mother. She and my dad are still at work." She sent Yuko a text explaining that Kagura had whisked her away for something school-related and that she'd be back in time for dinner.

"Seriously? It's getting kind of late." They were nearing the front door.

"Since mom's a teacher, she's probably still at the middle school grading papers or something. And since dad is the manager of some insurance company, he's always the last to leave."

"When do you think they'll get home?"

Chihiro shrugged. "Probably within the next hour or so."

"Don't worry, I'll have you home by then." Kagura flashed a cheesy smile to which Chihiro rolled her eyes.

By that point, they were just getting out the door.

The crisp, late autumn air immediately chilled Chihiro to the bone. Her breaths came out in wispy puffs of steam, and she huddled into herself for warmth. Winter was on its way, its nearness marked by the fine layer of frost that coated the ground.

It was nearing six o'clock in the evening, the sun just an orange, glowing crescent against the flatness of the horizon. It would be completely dark soon.

"By the way," Chihiro started as she climbed into the passenger seat of Kagura's beat-up gray sedan. "You never told me where we're going." She wrinkled up her nose – the interior of the car smelled like coffee.

Kagura started the car and, after cranking up the heat, peeled out of the Ogino's driveway.

"Well, this project is for my economics class."

Chihiro waited. "Okay, so?"

"_So," _Kagura continued, "part of this project includes an essay about the importance of money management. You know that abandoned amusement park just down the street?"

Chihiro nodded. "Of course." Though she'd never been there, all the locals knew about it.

Rumor had it that staying there past sunset would whisk the visitor into another dimension. But like most urban tales, there was no evidence to support this claim, and the rumor was acknowledged more as a silly children's story.

"My essay is going to be based on the failure of this park," Kagura said as she sped smoothly down the road. "I mean, why not? This park, just like all the others in Japan, was most likely shut down due to financial issues. It definitely goes hand-in-hand with economics."

"Yeah, but why do we have to go there if you're just going to write an essay about it?"

"Like I said, the essay is just a _part _of the whole project. I need visual evidence to support the essay." Kagura pulled off the main road and into a dirt one. "That's why we're taking pictures."

"You don't own a camera."

Kagura scoffed. "I don't need a camera. I have something called a cellphone."

"It's going to be dark soon."

"Then it's a good thing the cameras in our phones include flash."

"Why couldn't you have used pictures from the internet?"

"Because there are no pictures of this place on the internet. This place doesn't even have a name!"

"Okay, one more question. Why am I going?"

"Because an abandoned anything is creepy, especially at night. There's no way I was going to come here by myself." Kagura shuddered.

"Then you should have come tomorrow during the day and left me out of it altogether."

Kagura shook her head. "I wouldn't have had the time. I figured I'd gather all the visual keys tonight, then do the writing tomorrow."

Chihiro sighed and turned to look out the window.

As the car ventured further into the denseness of the woods, the texture of the road became rockier. Twice, Chihiro was thrown against her seatbelt and had to grab the dashboard to support herself. She did a double-take as they passed a smiling statue that stood in a thicket of trees.

"You're right," Chihiro said, turning to Kagura. "This place is creepy."

Kagura laughed. "We're not even there yet."

The car hit a nasty bump, nearly flinging Chihiro out of her seat.

"Is this safe?" she asked, a small trace of nervousness beginning to form in the underlying tone of her voice.

"Don't worry," Kagura reassured her. "I've got a four-wheel drive."

Chihiro was suddenly hit with a sense of déjà vu_._ She'd heard that line before.

"Wait, say that again -"

Suddenly, the car braked sharply, its tires struggling to find purchase in the dirt road. Both girls were flung back into their seats, their hearts thumping erratically against their chests. The vehicle painfully made a screeching stop, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt.

The girls sat in a few beats of stunned silence.

Chihiro was the first to break the tension. "What the hell, Kagura?"

Kagura gave a nervous laugh. "It's a good thing I have fast reflexes."

"What are you talking about? You braked out of nowhere!"

"I braked when I saw that we were about to become roadkill." Kagura pointed out in front of the windshield. "See?"

Chihiro turned and looked. There, sitting directly in front of the car's hood, was a stone statue.

It looked like the one she had just seen in the woods. Its chiseled grin seemed to taunt the girls, saying, _You idiots almost crashed into me!_

Kagura shut the car off and stepped out. Chihiro promptly followed.

"This would have sliced the car into two," Kagura said, knocking her fist against the stone hardness of the statue.

"Exactly. We could have died!"

"But we didn't," Kagura pointed out. "Thanks to me. You're welcome."

"I knew I shouldn't have come."

"Oh, stop that. This will be fun." Kagura brushed past the statue and stood before the tunnel that it guarded. "The actual park is just on the other side."

The sun was still making its slow descent behind the horizon, casting the scenery in a muted, orange glow. Shadows were beginning to stretch further out, and they would soon blend completely into the darkness of night.

Maple leaves covered the ground here, and Chihiro watched in a strange fascination as the leaves were blown toward the inside of the tunnel.

Another hit of déjà vu_._

"Hey, Kagura. Have we ever been here before?"

"Well, I certainly haven't," Kagura said as she scoped out the area. "Mai is the one who gave me the directions to this place. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know," Chihiro said. "I just keep experiencing something like déjà vu."

"Then that probably means you've definitely never been here."

"What?"

Kagura's face sobered into something serious and calculating, which only happened when she was consulting the depths of her photographic memory.

"The feeling of déjà vu is simply the brain failing to relate a current experience to a past one," Kagura explained, a small degree of her intelligence making its first appearance of the night. "So if you think you've been here before but can't remember when, it's likely you've never been here before, period."

"What I'm experiencing seems a bit more complicated than that." Chihiro shuddered.

"Relax," Kagura said, her tone and expression already back to its usual cheery demeanor. "It's all in your head. Now, come on." She grabbed Chihiro by the hand and marched into the darkness of the tunnel.

Chihiro stumbled in the darkness, grasping her friend's arm in a vise-like grip.

"Ow," Kagura complained. "You're just about cutting off my circulation."

"Sorry," Chihiro muttered. "But how are you able to see?"

"I can't. I'm just walking forward."

"Hold on. There's a flashlight feature on my phone." Chihiro dug in her pockets for her phone.

"No need, my friend," Kagura reassured. The last of the sun's light still managed to seep its way into the end of the tunnel, guiding the pair toward the exit.

They emerged from the other side, which led out to a vast, open plain, the long grass nearly up to the girls' knees. A few random statues – a monk, a toad, another grinning figure – were placed randomly about the sloping landscape. To their right sat two small, decaying buildings, their exterior paint jobs long faded and chipped by the constant breeze. To their left was a stone set of stairs that led up to the first glimpse of the abandoned town. Above, stars began to appear in the purple of the sky that separated day from night.

Though eerie as it all was, it was also beautiful.

"I wonder why this place failed," Chihiro wondered aloud.

"Probably due to exorbitant investment," Kagura answered as she set off for the stairs.

"Huh?"

For the second time of the night, Kagura's expression became cool and pragmatic as she formulated a coherent answer.

"The original owner probably put most of his money into the construction of this park in hopes of receiving the payments back twofold once customers began pouring in." Kagura sighed as if she felt sorry for the owner. "Obviously, this park didn't receive its anticipated income."

"So it was shut down?"

Kagura nodded. "Harder than that guy you rejected last week."

Chihiro blushed. "'That guy' has a name. Tamaki."

"Whatever."

"Anyway," Chihiro said once they reached the top of the stairs. "It's so beautiful here. I don't understand why enough people didn't come here just for the sights."

"The sights?" Kagura scoffed. "Keep in mind that Japan's stock market crashed back in 1989. Wages were reduced dramatically. Who knows if that had anything to do with it?"

"Wow, Kagura." Chihiro was impressed. "It sounds like you know quite a bit about financial history."

Kagura nodded in quiet flattery, eating up the compliment. "I did my research."

"If that's the case, then why did you bring me here? You could have written up your report tonight."

Kagura pulled out her phone. "Visual evidence, remember?"

"Oh, right."

"Now, start snapping!" Kagura commanded. She bounded up the path that led into the town, quickly disappearing from Chihiro's sight.

Chihiro scratched her head in confusion. Kagura was the one who didn't want to come here alone, and now she was hurdling solo off into the sunset.

She pulled out her own phone. She turned and stood at the edge of the stairs, preparing to take a scenic photo of the clock tower they had come from.

_Don't look back._

Chihiro spun around so fast her phone flew out of her hand and clattered against the ground.

She half-expected Kagura to be behind her, but there was no sign of anybody around. There was no source or explanation to the voice she'd just heard.

"Kagura?" she called out into the emptiness.

_Now go... and don't look back._

Chihiro gasped. There it was again. And this time, the image of two, smiling green eyes suddenly appeared in her mind.

This was beyond déjà vu_. _She'd seen those eyes before. She _knew _them. She'd even dreamed of them on more than one occasion.

But who they belonged to was beyond her.

She didn't like the vibes that were radiating off this place. This mysterious voice was telling her to go and not look back, and she would happily comply. She just had to find Kagura first. And fast.

She scooped her phone off the ground and dialed Kagura's number.

After a few rings, she went straight to voicemail. She grit her teeth in frustration. Instead of leaving a message at the tone, she sprinted right into the town where she had last seen her friend.

"Kagura?" Her voice bounced off the empty shops and vendors, resounding through the streets.

There was no answer.

"Kagura? We have to go," Chihiro tried again as she jogged through the abandoned town.

Still, there was no answer.

A stab of panic began to pump its way through her body. Where could Kagura have gone, and why wasn't she answering?

Chihiro was rounding the corner of a building when she ran straight into somebody's torso. With an audible gasp, she fell straight onto her backside.

"Kagura!" Chihiro exclaimed as she brushed herself off. "Where have you been? I called your cell and you didn't answer."

Chihiro looked up and blanched. This person was definitely not Kagura.

He stood before her, tall and proud. He appeared to be about nineteen or twenty years old, not much older than her. He wore expensive-looking leather shoes, a pair of dark-wash jeans, and a collared black t-shirt. His arms were folded across his chest as he peered both curiously and condescendingly down at Chihiro.

His facial features are what caught the most attention, however. Even in the dimming sunlight, she could see that his messy hair was an astonishing hue of bright red, the kind that only came in artificial hair dyes. And those eyes that seemed to judge her entirety from head to toe were practically glowing neon yellow - he had to be wearing colored contact lenses. Natural eye color just didn't come in that shade.

Mr. False-hair-false-eyes continued to watch Chihiro without uttering a single word, and Chihiro suppressed a shiver of uncertainty at his sudden presence.

She stood up and tentatively approached this stranger. "I'm sorry for running into you. I didn't know that anybody else would be here."

Mr. False arched an eyebrow at her apology, still saying nothing.

Chihiro fidgeted under his gaze. "Um, you haven't happened to see a blonde girl run by, have you? She's about my height and age." She waited for an answer but was met with more silence. "I'm assuming that's a no. Well, I'd appreciate it if you could keep an eye out. If you see her, could you tell her that -"

He snorted. Something in what she said was funny to him.

Chihiro bit her lip. "Is something wrong?"

Mr. False shook his head in disbelief. "Why would I waste my time in helping you?"

Chihiro raised her eyebrows, taken aback by his unjustified rudeness. "Because it's the nice thing to do?"

He exhaled sharply. "Your kind always takes and never gives."

"I only asked if you've seen my friend."

He ignored her. "I'd love to see the day when a _human_ helps _me_."

"Excuse me?"

"If anything, you should be bowing down to me. Don't you know when you're in the presence of a higher being?"

Either this guy was so indulged in his peculiar appearance that he sincerely thought he wasn't human, or he was one hell of an actor.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" Mr. False continued. "This place is forbidden to the likes of you."

"Really?" Chihiro snapped. "Gee, I didn't know this ghost town of an amusement park was owned by an arrogant redhead."

He didn't want to be nice? Fine. But he'd better expect to receive the same amount of maliciousness that he was showing her.

"What did you say?" he demanded, having the nerve to look offended. "Is a human actually showing me a form of disrespect?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're still a human even if you dye your hair and wear contacts?" Chihiro asked, placing her hands on her hips. "Enough with the act already."

"You think these are fake?" Mr. False gestured to his hair and eyes. "These are all natural."

One day, this guy would either find himself on the grand stage of a _Broadway_ production, or inside the barred room of a mental hospital.

Chihiro personally thought the latter option was more likely to happen. "You're insane."

"Could it be that you're just attracted to my good looks? I know that humans show their affection in different ways."

Chihiro's jaw dropped. "What?"

Mr. False nodded. "I knew it. You humans are suckers for beauty. It's sad, really."

Chihiro waited for the punchline of his joke, but he was being completely serious as far as she could see.

She fought the urge to puke. She had never met a more self-entitled, actor-wannabe of a brat in her whole entire life. There were a few runner-ups, like the spoiled kids who attended her town's elite private school, but this guy beat them by a landslide in the department of arrogance.

"I think it's safe to say that this sunny personality of yours negates any other aspect of your entire being," Chihiro spat, her voice dripping with venom. "I am so not attracted to you in any way, shape, or form. Get over yourself."

Mr. False shook his head. "That's not possible. My genes are far superior than yours. Perfect genes equal perfect looks, right?" Mr. False threw up his hands in a gesture that said, _What can you do?_ "It's how my kind ensures survival."

She couldn't believe this guy. So he remained mute when asked about Kagura, but once his appearance was up for negotiation, he couldn't close his mouth. Unbelievable.

"And what is _your kind_, might I ask?" Chihiro cocked her head to the side in feigned curiosity. "Is it a group of audacious, egotistical jerks who step all over those who cross their paths? Or is it a ward of escaped schizophrenic patients with no real grasp of the real world?"

He blinked at her. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you?"

"Well, I'd rather be stubborn than an arrogant son-of-a-"

"Chihiro!"

She turned around in time to see Kagura running toward her. "Kagura! Where were you?"

Kagura stopped when she reached Chihiro. "I was taking pictures on the other side of this town. I came looking for you when I heard you shouting my name."

"Didn't you get my call?"

Kagura displayed a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I kind of ignored that."

"Kagura!"

"I'm sorry! It's just that I was in the middle of taking shots of this really big, red building. You should go see it – it's gorgeous!"

"Not now," Chihiro said, suddenly remembering why she had called Kagura in the first place. "We have to go."

"Why? What's the rush?"

"I'll explain later."

"Did you get any pictures?" Kagura asked.

"What? No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Kagura demanded. "What have you been doing this whole time?"

"Well, first I ran through the streets of this place trying to find you, and then I discovered this jerk." Chihiro pointed behind her.

Kagura peered around her. "Um, who?"

Chihiro looked back. Mr. False was nowhere to be seen.

"How is this possible?" She looked all around. Nobody just disappeared like that. "He was just here!"

"Who was?"

"That guy I met!"

"Chihiro, when I was running up to you, I didn't see anybody."

"Seriously?" Chihiro asked. "You didn't see that guy with the red hair and yellow eyes?"

There was a pause.

"I think it's time we started heading home," Kagura said as she began making her way out of the town.

* * *

**A/N Ah, I just loved writing Mr. False into the story (just in case you didn't already guess this, "Mr. False" is not this guy's real name). I had my friend read over this chapter, and she expressed her concern over what Mr. False is. Though I didn't want to give anything away, I feel the need to say that he is, in fact, NOT a vampire; that's what my friend thought he was, and I didn't want readers thinking the same thing since that could be a major turnoff for some. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	2. Into the Fray

"You must have been hallucinating," Kagura said, her expression calculatingly serious as she recalled Chihiro's behavior in the park just minutes prior.

"You really think so?" Chihiro asked, somewhat incredulous. The guy she had met seemed so real, considering she was still fuming over their short-lived conversation.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Kagura insisted as she merged the car out into the main road. "I mean, you said you tried to come find me after you began hearing voices, right?"

Chihiro shuddered just thinking about it. "Yeah."

"And I didn't see anybody when I found you in that town."

"But that guy felt so real. It's hard to pass his existence off as an illusion."

"Trust me, many people are fooled by hallucinations." The car rolled to a stoplight. "Hallucinations can affect all five of a person's senses. Even I've been fooled by them before."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm," Kagura admitted, almost sheepishly. "I recently learned in chemistry that consuming large amounts of caffeine runs a higher risk of auditory hallucinations. And you know how I love my coffee..."

"Yeah, but why was _I_ hallucinating?" Chihiro asked.

"For starters, you're exhausted. I practically dragged you out of bed, remember?" Kagura gave a short laugh at the recent memory. "And I think it's safe that everyone in our grade – you included – has been stressing over schoolwork this entire semester."

"That still doesn't explain why I was seeing and hearing things."

"Yes, it does. Hallucinations can be caused by both exhaustion and anxiety, both of which you were experiencing when we arrived at the park." The light turned green, and the car drove on. "I don't think it's anything serious."

"Are you sure I'm not just going crazy?"

Kagura grinned. "Well, I always knew you were crazy. But in the psychological sense? I don't think so."

"Gee, thanks."

"Seriously, though. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Everybody is capable of hallucinating under the right conditions, mentally-stable or not." Kagura threw her friend a side-long glance. "Just get a good night's sleep when you get home, okay? If you're still seeing and hearing things by tomorrow morning, I'd go consult a doctor."

Chihiro nodded. "Yup." She turned to gaze absently out the window.

She was only half-comforted by Kagura's diagnosis. Perhaps she'd be fully content with the excuse that she was hallucinating if it wasn't for that brief image of those deep, green eyes. She withheld the information from Kagura that she knew she'd seen them before. She didn't know why, but there was a certain intimacy in the depths of those eyes that Chihiro just didn't want to share.

The only question that stood was: who did they belong to? As much as she thought about those eyes, she just couldn't pinpoint their owner.

The car slowed as it turned down Chihiro's street.

"Alright," Kagura said as she parked the sedan outside the Ogino estate. "Here we are."

Chihiro unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door. "Thanks for the trip to _Wonderland."_

"You're welcome. Thanks for keeping me company."

"Sorry I didn't take any pictures."

Kagura waved her off. "It's fine. I got more than enough all by myself."

Chihiro wasn't finished. "Also, sorry that I cut the journey short."

Kagura laughed. "No, it's okay. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have made it out of the park before nighttime; we could have been spirited away to another world!"

Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You're just trying to make me feel better."

"Maybe." Kagura began to pull away. "Text me how you're feeling tomorrow."

"I will."

She trudged up her lawn and to the front door, finally realizing just how tired she was. The prior adrenaline she had experienced during her argument with a guy who supposedly never existed had done a fine job of masking her exhaustion.

"I'm home," she called out as she entered the door.

"Chihiro," her mother greeted from the kitchen. "Sorry I never responded to your message - I just saw it."

"It's alright. Where's dad?" Chihiro asked as she slipped off her shoes.

"Still at work, but he should be here soon. What did you and Kagura end up doing?"

"We had to take pictures to visually support an essay of hers." Chihiro walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.

"Oh? Of what?" her mother inquired as she stirred a pot of something steaming.

"You know that abandoned amusement park just up the road from here?"

"Of course. We've been there before."

Chihiro stared at her mother. "What?"

"I said, we've been there before -"

"No, I heard you," Chihiro said quickly. "But you said _we've _been there. Does that include me?"

"You don't remember?" Yuko asked as she turned to look at her daughter. "The day we moved here, your father took a wrong turn and we winded up at that park."

This was news to her. "Did we get out of the car?"

"Yes. I insisted on just trying to find our new house, but both you and your father wanted to explore the place." Yuko smiled a bit.

"Where did we go?"

"Just through part of that old town. We looked at a few run-down buildings and left, and the whole visit took about fifteen minutes." She paused. "What brought this on?"

Chihiro shrugged. "It felt kind of strange when I went with Kagura today."

"It's weird that you say that," Yuko said. "Since it was strange the last time we were there, too."

"What was strange about it?" Chihiro pressed. Did they hear voices or see people that weren't really there?

"We got back to the car, and it was covered in dust, as if we had been gone for days!"

"I feel like I would have remembered that."

"Well, that was more than seven years ago," Yuko said as she turned to continue dinner preparations. "You were very young."

This revelation certainly explained the constant feeling of familiarity she'd felt throughout the night. But she had to know...

"Was there anyone else at the park when we visited?" _Maybe somebody with green eyes?_

"Of course not," Yuko answered. "The place had been abandoned for decades, if not centuries. We were the only people there, from what I could see."

"Yeah, silly me," Chihiro mumbled, thrust further into the mystery of those green eyes. She stood up. "I'm going to bed."

"To bed? It's not even seven o'clock yet. And you haven't eaten dinner."

"I'm tired and I'm not hungry." She began ascending the stairs.

"Chihiro!" Yuko protested.

"Mom, school's been taking quite a toll out of me lately," Chihiro explained, pausing mid-step on the staircase. "I just want more than a few hours of sleep tonight."

Yuko hesitated. "Well, you have been working hard this whole semester..."

"Exactly. Goodnight."

She promptly entered her room and shut the door. No way was she telling her parents that she'd been hallucinating all night – she'd wake up in a mental asylum.

Kagura was right – hallucinating or not, Chihiro needed a good night's sleep. By the time Akio Ogino walked through the door, his daughter was dreaming steadily about a certain pair of green eyes.

* * *

Chihiro spent her Sunday morning doing absolutely nothing.

She'd texted Kagura to tell her that she felt much better, but Kagura only replied with a terse "K," indicating that she was most likely in the process of finishing her economics project.

Yuko and Akio didn't work on Sundays, so they spent the first few hours of the day lounging around the house like their daughter. But while they passed the time with sewing kits and newspapers, Chihiro allowed herself to be consumed by her thoughts as she gazed out her bedroom window.

Those damned green eyes. Whose were they, and why was she so obsessed with them? There was definitely more to them than what her mind was allowing her to remember. Nobody simply forgot whose eyes like those belonged to.

She groaned, hating the confines of her own, limited memory.

She didn't know how or why, but those eyes were somehow connected to the amusement park. That is where she had seen them, so that is where she would probably be able to uncover their mysterious origin. She was sure of it.

Finally fed up with sitting in the same spot on her bed, she stood up and stretched, cracking her back in the process. She grabbed the sparkly, purple hair tie off her dresser and twisted her hair into a side-braid before heading downstairs.

"Dad, can I borrow the car?" Chihiro asked as she walked into living room.

"Sure," Akio said, putting down his newspaper next to him on the sofa. "Where are you going?"

"Uh..."

Chihiro was certain that going to an abandoned amusement park just to find details about a set of green eyes that she'd only seen in her mind was not something her father should know. She herself wasn't too proud of it.

"I left my phone charger at Kagura's house, and she's too busy to drive it over herself right now." It was a typical excuse, and she hoped it sounded legitimate enough for her father not to suspect anything.

"Kagura's the girl that likes coffee, right?"

"Yeah."

"Does your mother know you're leaving the house?"

"No, but you do. And this'll only take a few minutes."

"Well, okay. Be safe," Akio said as he dug his keys from his pocket and tossed them at Chihiro. "Just call or text if you're going to do anything else."

Chihiro caught them. "Thanks, Dad. I'll be back soon."

She stepped outside, the brisk air immediately biting at her ears and nose. It was just past noon, and the sun was high and brightly shining.

She unlocked her father's silver Acura and started it up. Sitting in the driver's seat, she took a moment to recall the course Kagura had driven the previous night. It wasn't too difficult considering the distance between where she currently was and her intended destination was minimal. Satisfied enough with her mental list of directions, she pulled the car out of the driveway and down the road.

Now that she'd gotten more than twelve hours of sleep and had the light of day to guide her, she wasn't afraid to return to the park. She didn't expect to miraculously run into the person with the green eyes, but she did hope to find more clues as to who he might be.

After a few minutes of driving, she took the left into the familiar dirt road, and was soon surrounded by a forest of trees and occasional statues. She was both relieved and disappointed that those strange waves of déjà vu didn't interrupt her focus, and she easily stopped the car once the tunnel came into view.

She stepped out of the car and thirty-two paces later, she was standing before the grassy plains again.

She began to walk gingerly up the stone steps, waiting for the image of the green eyes to hit her as suddenly as it did yesterday. But by the time she made it to the top, nothing had happened.

Retracing her steps from last night, she moved to the edge of the stairs and gazed out at the clock tower. She pulled out her phone and posed like she was preparing to take a photo.

Still, nothing.

Despite what Kagura had told her, Chihiro couldn't help but feel that she was going a little insane. After all, who went to an amusement park just to try to see a mentally-conjured image?

Though, it wasn't like the eyes were solely a part of her anxiety-motivated hallucinations. She'd thought about them long before yesterday, but had somehow forgotten about them until that point.

But how could she have forgotten them in the first place when she felt such a strong force between her and their mysterious owner?

It didn't make any sense.

__CRASH!__

The sound immediately pulled Chihiro from her thoughts.

She rubbed the heels of her hands against her temples, hoping that she wasn't hallucinating again.

_CRASH!_

There it was again, this time coming from somewhere behind the many rundown buildings.

"Hello?" she called out in the direction of the town. "Anybody here?"

No answer.

It was against her better judgement to go investigate a potentially imagined noise that was coming right from the heart of an abandoned town, but curiosity outweighed fear. Still, she gripped her phone in her hand as a cautionary measure as she set off for the town, just in case she walked in on a homicide and had to speed dial the police.

She peeked around the corner of a building to look down the empty street. With nothing out of the ordinary in sight, she moved on to the next street.

She was just about to round the corner when a huge crash rocked the nearest building. She jumped at the sound and ran for cover behind the neighboring shop. Glass windows shattered into a million pieces and hunks of debris rained down on the street. By the time the dust cleared, the shop that had been hit sported a huge, crater-sized hole in its exterior.

She couldn't help the shocked gasp that escaped her mouth when she saw him stumble from the ruined shop.

Mr. False.

His entire being was covered in dust, but his red hair and yellow eyes were unmistakeable. A red gash had appeared just above his left brow with a thin trickle of blood flowing down to his chin. He supported himself on his knees, his breaths coming out harsh and ragged. He stared fixedly straight ahead, looking as if he were waiting for something to appear.

Either Chihiro's hallucinations were stronger than ever, or she was witnessing something unexplainable.

The guy was just thrown through a _concrete building. _Not even an ego as thick as his could have saved a life, yet there he was, injured but breathing.

Chihiro quickly dialed Kagura's number. The phone service in the park was limited, but still luckily available.

"This better be important," Kagura hissed after the third ring. The weak reception caused a bit of static around her voice. "I'm two paragraphs away from finishing. What do you want?"

"Kagura, this is important," Chihiro whispered frantically, keeping her eyes on Mr. False.

"What is it? And where are you? I can't hear you all that well."

"Listen, I have a question. How do you know when you're hallucinating?" Thankfully, Mr. False didn't seem to hear the rushed phone conversation that was happening just a few feet away from where he stood. His eyes were still fixed on something in front of him.

"Where did that question come from?" Kagura demanded.

"Just answer it. Please."

"Wait, are you still hallucinating?"

"Yes. No. I'm not sure. Just answer it!"

"Oh, fine."

There was a pause on the other end, and Chihiro could almost see her friend's demeanor morphing into that of a serious one.

"It's all about perception," Kagura finally answered, her voice pedantically calm. "You just have to put sensory input into plausible context."

"What does that even mean?" Though she was grateful for her friend's encyclopedia of a mind, Chihiro hated it when Kagura explained things that only Einstein would understand.

"It means, have a normal understanding of the world," Kagura said. "Like, if you're seeing a bunch of kittens flying around in the sky, you should know through sheer common sense that it isn't real."

"But what if I'm seeing something that can be a part of the real world?"

"Like...?"

"Like a guy with dyed red hair and colored contacts."

"Red hair and colored contacts? Are you -" Kagura gasped with understanding. "It's that guy you thought you saw yesterday, isn't it? Red hair, yellow eyes? You _are _hallucinating!"

Chihiro gulped. "I'm not so sure I am anymore."

Kagura sighed. "Listen, Chihiro. I thought I told you to go see a doctor if you still -"

"Come get me, you damned bastards!" Mr. False screamed into the air, his arms out as if anticipating a fight. "I'll finish you in one blow!"

There was a moment of complete silence on the other end of the phone.

"Chihiro?" Kagura asked. "Who was that I just heard?"

"You _heard _that?" Chihiro asked, shocked.

"How could I not? Whoever that was sure is screaming up a storm."

"If you can hear him, then that means he _must _bereal," Chihiro said, relieved that she wasn't crazy, but distressed since that meant she was in the presence of intense paranormality. "I was never hallucinating in the first place!"

"Who's real?" Kagura urged. "And where are you?"

"Thanks for your help, Kagura. Really. I'll be right home."

"No -"

Chihiro abruptly ended the call. She meant it when she said that she'd be right home. No way was she staying any longer near the jerk who'd somehow survived being catapulted into a building.

That's when she saw them.

Large, creeping shadows moving right through the thick walls of buildings and toward Mr. False. Though these shadows had absolutely no sources to base their entities on, they were clearly moving of their own accord. There were about eight individual dark "blobs" as far as Chihiro could see, and each had a pair of holes at the highest point of its body, looking suspiciously like eyes.

Mr. False grinned smugly at their arrival.

One of the shadows shrank into itself, and Mr. False only had a few seconds to jump out of the way before the thing coiled up like a slinky and shot through the air. Despite the fact that it was previously gliding through walls like a ghost, the shadow hit a building full-force and caused more rubble to spray to the ground.

Before Mr. False had time to recover, the shadow's seven remaining buddies too coiled their bodies and sprang through the air. Mr. False narrowly rolled out of the way as the shadows flew past him, and they kicked up clouds of dirt from the road upon their collisions.

By this point, Chihiro was wishing that this other-worldly fight scene was just a figment of her imagination. It certainly would have made a lot more sense. She could explain the logics behind Mr. False's existence, but as for those shadow-like things? Not so much.

She saw something dark move just outside of her peripheral vision, and she hesitantly turned her head for a more precise observation.

There, crawling along the ground, was another shadow. It seemed not to notice nor care for her presence as it stealthily made its way toward Mr. False, who currently had his back to it.

Chihiro swallowed the lump that had begun to form in her throat. In a matter of seconds, Mr. False would be no more.

She gripped the sides of her head, torn between what she should do. Making a run for it would ensure her safety, but what about Mr. False? While he was the biggest jerk she had ever had the displeasure of meeting, did he really deserve to die by the hands of unsightly, shadowy blobs?

Well, maybe.

She shook her head, trying to clear her head. Those kind of thoughts were not what her parents encouraged.

Yes, Mr. False was a jerk, but he was currently weak and injured. Plus, there were eight – nine if she counted the crawling one – shadows against him, and he was completely on his own unless she stepped in to lend a helping hand.

With his undivided attention on only eight of the enemies, Mr. False was susceptible to the ninth one that was coiling for the attack.

With her mind made up, Chihiro ran past the shadow and right into the fray.

"Look out!" She dived for Mr. False and brought him straight to the ground as the shadow leaped right over their heads. It landed unceremoniously against the dirt in a splat formation before straightening itself out.

Mr. False looked down at Chihiro in unmasked surprise. "You're that stubborn girl..."

Before she could call him very unpleasant adjectives in response, he lifted her up by the waist and leaped a few meters back, avoiding another attack.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

Chihiro slapped his hands away. "Excuse me?"

"I told you that your kind isn't supposed to be here!"

"If I wasn't here, you'd be dead!" she said, moving aggressively into his face. Was he seriously that ungrateful?

"Are you serious? I was about to unleash my best attack when you flew in out of nowhere and knocked me to the ground!"

"You're welcome!"

"You little...!"

Mr. False looked up in time to see another approaching attack.

He scooped Chihiro up in his arms and leaped back another few meters. He immediately set her down once they were within a reasonably safe distance.

"Go!" he commanded. "Get out of here!"

She stayed put. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

"Are you a child? I'm trying to save your life!"

"I'm trying to save yours!"

"Don't make me laugh. You think a weak human like you can do anything?"

"I am _not _weak! You're the one who keeps running away from those things!" She pointed at the shadows.

"Because I now have your pathetic ass to cover!"

"I never asked for your help."

"And I never asked for yours, either! Now, get going!" He turned back to the fight, and she stubbornly did the same.

Though Mr. False and Chihiro's bantering was brief, it took up enough time for all nine shadows to launch a simultaneous attack. The pair looked up in time to find themselves right in the path of a massive, dark cloud that was rapidly approaching their way.

Mr. False cursed under his breath and made a reach for Chihiro. Before he could so much as touch her, a bright, purple light shone abruptly in the midst of the battle.

He shielded his eyes against the intensity of the light, but he still managed to squint one eye open to take in the scene.

"This is..."

The light was coming from the girl's hair. More specifically, from her hair tie. It managed to envelope the whole street in a wave of unnatural luminosity. It was warm but not uncomfortably so, as it chased away the cold traces of autumn for the briefest of moments. The shadows, momentarily stunned by the light, seemed to vaporize into the air as a result of the splendor.

The light continued to linger for a few more beats before dimming back to the mellow sparkle of the hair tie.

Throughout the whole endeavor, Chihiro had stood wide-eyed in a mixture of confusion and shock. She'd always vaguely wondered where she'd gotten this purple hair tie from. It looked like she now had another mystery on her hands.

"Hey."

An thumb and middle finger snapped in front of her face for attention, and only then did she remember that she was not alone.

Chihiro blinked up at Mr. False. "That light... Did you do that?"

He scoffed. "Of course not. You don't see me wearing magical hair accessories, do you?"

She ignored his jibe. "Why were those things attacking you?"

"They were angry because I dined and dashed." There was no shame whatsoever in his voice.

"From where?"

"From here."

"Here? As in, this town?" Surely, he was just kidding. This place was a ghost town.

"Where else?"

"That's not possible. There are no running restaurants in this place."

"Yes, there are. And I can show you, too. One is just a few blocks away." He pointed down the street. "They were serving the Japanese equivalent of a Thanksgiving feast. It was _awesome."_

Chihiro looked up at him. "Are you sure you weren't just hallucinating?"

"What?"

"Nothing." Chihiro looked around, making sure that the shadows hadn't returned. "What were those things, anyway?"

"Those things were what made the food."

If the circumstances were normal, Chihiro would have laughed in his face. A group of blobby shadow creatures running a restaurant in a dead man's land? That just sounded impossibly ridiculous. But if anything, this seemed to be the most plausible concept she'd encountered all day, considering what she'd experienced over the last ten minutes.

"Why did you freeload off of them?" Chihiro asked. "They could have killed you!"

"Careful, there." He raised his hands. "You almost sound like you're worried about me."

She folded her arms, unimpressed.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Since I'm a pretty high-ranking individual, I figured I was allowed to eat, no charge included. I guess I was wrong."

"Oh, dear lord..." There he went again about how great he was.

"And they wouldn't have killed me. They just wanted to take me to their boss, a witch who's known for turning thieves into pigs. That's a fate I'll never accept."

Chihiro rubbed her hands over her eyes. Nothing was making any sense, and Mr. False here wasn't helping. She had to go home.

She looked up and screamed. "What the hell?!"

"What?!"

Chihiro pointed at the sky. "When did that happen?!"

Just minutes ago, the sun had been shining high and happy against the day-blue sky. Now, the sun was dangerously close against the horizon, the entirety of the sky nearly black with night. A splattering of stars shone overhead, twinkling innocently down below.

Chihiro clawed her phone out of her pocket. The time read 6:44 pm.

She stared at the numbers on her phone. "How is this possible?"

Mr. False shrugged. "With the amount of magic you just released, this was bound to happen."

She turned on him. "For once, can you _please _say something that makes the least bit of sense?!"

"I am making sense. You humans are just slow."

"I am not slow. I just want a logical explanation on how day turned to night in the blink of an eye!"

Closing his eyes, Mr. False pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. "Congratulations. You may be the most annoying human I've ever met."

She opened her mouth to voice a witty comeback, but he held up a hand.

"Whatever you're about to say, don't. I'm being nice here, so don't make me change my mind."

Chihiro blinked at him. "How are you being nice?"

He threw her a semi-genuine smile. "I'm getting you out of here. You don't want to fade away, do you?"

She stared at him uncomprehendingly.

He took a deep breath and slowly moved his arms out, palms facing up. A few seconds later, a pair of bat-like wings unsheathed from his shoulder blades and fanned out at his sides.

Chihiro took an unsteady step back, but the surprises didn't end there.

Two, sloping horns grew from his head, breaking the skin at his temples. A long, purplish tail with a heart-shaped tip emerged from his lower back, whipping out like a sword before settling at his heels. His fingernails grew inches out, their tips pointed out like claws.

Chihiro stared. "You're..."

Mr. False raised a questioning eyebrow. "Yes?"

"You're not human."

He rolled his eyes. "Like I said, you humans sure are slow."

* * *

**A/N I didn't realize how long this chapter would be. Because there's just so much, I'm still looking over this, but at the same time I just couldn't wait any longer to post it. So within the next twenty-four hours, there may or may not be a few changes added to this chapter.**

**Anyway, it looks like "Mr. False" and Chihiro are becoming a kind of close. But fear not, for this is a (Spoiler) Chihiro and Haku story. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Act of Kindness

**A/N Finally finished this chapter! I've been writing it since I posted the second one, but I kept changing practically everything about it. It's a little shorter and slower than the first two, but I still hope you like it nonethless.**

* * *

"Put me down!" Chihiro shrieked, landing a perfect punch into Mr. False's perfect face.

"OW!" Mr. False promptly dropped the thrashing girl onto the ground.

Chihiro scooted back from him, feeling horribly nauseous.

Mr. False brought a clawed hand to his throbbing nose. "That hurt, woman!"

"Good! Let that be a lesson to you to never touch me again!"

"Seriously?" Mr. False asked. "You're not going to thank me?"

"No!"

Mr. False glared at her. "Why are you humans so ungrateful?"

Chihiro glared right back at him. "What exactly am I supposed to be grateful for? The fact that you're not human? Or the fact that you suddenly picked me up and _flew into the sky!"_

"What, did you think these wings were just for show?" Mr. False flapped his wings behind him for emphasis.

"I hope you know that I have two legs of my own and could have simply walked out of the town."

Mr. False shook his head. "You wouldn't have made it in time. The doors to your world were almost completely closed."

Chihiro groaned and placed her head between her knees, trying to ease the dizziness that had always affected her every time she found herself at a higher-than-sea-level altitude.

Not thirty seconds ago, Mr. False had indeed scooped Chihiro up bridal-style and flew her outside of the park. She'd practically dug nail marks into his neck as she clung against him for her dear life, trying not to look down at the shrinking ground. And though she was safely back to the side of her father's car, the motion sickness from her unintentional flight was still fresh. Not to mention she was still trying to process the fact that she was in the company of someone who wasn't exactly human.

Chihiro more or less lived by the motto: _seeing is believing._ She refused to believe the genuineness of any rumor until she tested its authenticity herself. Fairytale creatures were simply a myth in her mind, and she had a genius of a friend to back up her point of view. No amount of fiction could compete against the logical standpoint of Kagura.

But now that the genius herself had actually _heard _this supposed illusion of a man, there was no way he was imaginary. And since he wasn't imaginary, Chihiro had no other choice than to believe that the wings and horns on him were real. He really wasn't human.

"You're looking kinda green," Mr. False commented from his eternal spot in the peanut gallery. "Are you gonna throw up?"

"Shut up," Chihiro mumbled, struggling to get to her feet. "I have to get home."

Mr. False folded his arms. "Don't expect me to give you a ride."

"Don't worry, I wasn't," Chihiro said as she dug her car keys from the inside of her jacket. No way was she hitching another flight on _Jerk Airlines. _She looked up at him. "You're not looking so great yourself."

"You're lying," Mr. False said. "I always look great."

"I'm not talking about your looks, you idiot."

He still had a gash above his left eye with a dust-encrusted trail of blood leading to his chin. His forehead was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, no doubt caused by the earlier fight. His face was slightly flushed, and Chihiro was just realizing that he was shivering against the cold air.

She hesitated. Was she really willing to lend a helping hand to this guy for a second time? He didn't seem particularly thankful for her intervention during the fight. Besides, she didn't know what he was. Before today, she didn't think the world had the capacity to house anything supernatural. She didn't know what he was capable of.

But he did save her from being crushed by those shadow creatures before telling her to leave for her own good. A part of her mind told her that if he wanted her dead, he'd have already killed, eaten, and digested her long ago.

Taking another look at him, she couldn't help but feel pity for him as he subtly folded his wings around his shoulders to keep warm. He may be arrogant, but he wasn't evil.

"I hope I don't regret this later," Chihiro muttered.

"What did you say?"

She pointed her key remote at the car. The car's lights flashed twice to signal that it was unlocked.

Walking to the driver's side, she looked back at Mr. False and jerked her chin to the passenger's side. "You coming or what?"

Mr. False looked at her in surprise, not completely void of gratitude.

Still, he hesitated.

She tapped her fingernails against the car door impatiently. "What are you waiting for?"

"Where are we going?" he countered, starting to inch his way toward the vehicle nonetheless.

"My house."

"Why?"

"So I can treat your injuries."

He paused, his expression suddenly confused, as if she was suddenly speaking another language.

Chihiro didn't like it. "What?"

Strangely, he averted his eyes under Chihiro's gaze. "Nothing."

His horns, wings, tail, and claws all retracted into his body until he was passable as a human being. He climbed into the passenger seat.

Chihiro climbed in after him, starting the car up and blasting the heat on.

Mr. False stared at the dashboard, awestruck. "I've never been in one of these things."

Chihiro threw a glance at him. "You really aren't human."

"I thought we already went over this." He held his hands out to the air vent.

"I know," Chihiro said as she turned the car around. "I'm just still getting used to it."

They drove in a few minutes of silence, which suited just fine with Chihiro. What kind of idle chat could have been initiated, anyway? Should she have asked how long his _Wolverine _claws were? Or if his tail ever got in the way of his waistbands?

She shook her head. She didn't have to know anything more about him. She'd take him into her house, treat his minor injuries, then send him back out into the world and hope to never see him again. She was sure that she'd discovered more of the paranormal realm in one night than anyone else would have in a lifetime.

The car was just pulling down her street when she slammed on the brakes.

Mr. False nearly launched his head through the windshield. "What are you doing?"

"My parents are home," Chihiro recalled, the blood draining from her face.

"So?"

"I don't want them to see you!"

"And why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? Look at you! You're covered in sweat, dust, and blood, and I don't want to have to think of an explanation as to who you are." Chihiro bit her lip, frustrated.

"Why is this such a big deal?" Mr. False asked as he looked at himself in the rearview mirror. "Just tell them I'm a long-lost friend of yours who had a nasty fall."

"That could work... if you had a different personality," Chihiro said. "I don't want you waltzing into my home and declare to my parents that you are a higher being than their lowly human selves."

Mr. False shook his head. "I wouldn't do that."

Chihiro stared at him. "That's exactly what you did to me. Yesterday. When I ran into you."

"That's because you were only one human. One human can't possibly expose my entire race since it's so easy for his own kind to doubt his claims."

"Is that why you disappeared when my friend came for me?"

"Actually, I was going to leave anyway. Your friend just happened to come at the exact moment I finally did."

Chihiro rubbed her hand across her face. "How am I supposed to get you to my room? There's no way we'd be able to sneak past them undetected."

"Do we really have to go to your house?"

"I can't think of anywhere else. You have a better idea?"

He shook his head. "No. But how many floors does your house have?"

"Two," she said, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

"Is your room on the second floor?"

"Yes..."

"Then it's simple." Mr. False nodded in satisfaction. "I'll just fly there."

Chihiro let the idea sink in. Given the circumstances, it wasn't a bad idea, and she couldn't think of a reason why it wouldn't work.

"Fine," Chihiro said as she eased off the brake. "Just don't make too much noise, and don't let the neighbors see. I don't want them thinking the gates of hell have opened up."

"Yes, ma'am." Mr. False mockingly saluted her.

She stopped the car in front of her house and stepped outside. She waited until Mr. False was out before pointing to her window.

"My room is right there, and the window should be unlocked."

His line of vision followed her finger and he nodded. "I'll be waiting."

Chihiro walked quickly up her lawn, not sure she wanted to see Mr. False break out his wings again. Still, she heard the gentle beat of his wings as he took flight above her.

"I'm home," she called as she stepped into the warmth of her house. It seemed like she had just been here minutes ago.

"Chihiro!" Her mother came rushing to the entrance. "What is the matter with you?"

"Seriously, Chihiro." Her father joined the scene. "You said you'd call to let us know if you did anything else, but you never did. This isn't like you."

"Uh..." She had forgotten that her departure from home was supposed to have been only a few minutes long. How was she supposed to explain that for her, the day came and went faster than her car could drive?

"We were worried sick," her mother said, placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry," Chihiro apologized. "I got a little sidetracked..."

"You could have at least answered our calls, though," Akio said. "We called you twice and you never picked up."

"I'm sorry," Chihiro repeated, tilting her head down in a gesture that suggested she was genuinely remorseful. What else could she do or say?

Yuko shook her head at her daughter. "You're lucky that we called Kagura's house."

"What? Kagura?"

"Yes. Did she not tell you we called?"

"Um... no." Where was this conversation headed?

"That's weird. I thought she would pass the message on to you. But maybe not." Yuko sighed. "Well, she let us know that you had decided to stay over for a few hours, which we would have been fine with had you not ignored our calls."

Chihiro blinked. It looked like Kagura had already thought of an excuse for her.

"As parents, we worried that something bad had happened to you instead," Akio added.

"I'm sorry," Chihiro said for the third time, rolling with Kagura's story. "I thought I had left my phone charger at her house, but it turns out it wasn't there. I was going to come back home when Kagura begged me to hang out with her, so that's what I did; I guess I lost track of time. And since I haven't been able to charge my phone lately, it died, so I wasn't able to call you."

"Oh." The parental anger that had momentarily caused such tension between mother and child was suddenly lifted from the room. "Why didn't you just say that before?"

Chihiro shrugged. "I was warming up to it."

A part of Chihiro felt horribly guilty for lying, especially to her parents. She didn't lie to her parents often, yet she had certainly started out that way ever since the morning.

"I see." Yuko smiled a bit. "I should have known you had a valid excuse to all this. Sorry we resorted to immediately yelling at you before hearing you out."

Inwardly, Chihiro cringed as her guilt increased. Her lie was making her parents apologize for nothing. "It's fine."

"Well," Akio said. "Now that that's all settled, why don't we go start dinner?"

"Agreed." Yuko started for the kitchen. "Chihiro, why don't you go wash up? And when you're done, come back down to set the table."

"On it." Chihiro was only too willing to leave. Being scolded by her parents before lying straight to their faces didn't exactly make Chihiro daughter of the year. Besides, she had business to take care of, and hopefully this certain business had made it into her room with his arrogant mouth kept shut.

She pulled out her phone as she swiftly made her way up the stairs. Strangely enough, there was a message on the screen alerting her to thirteen missed calls. Why she hadn't seen the message in the park, she didn't know. Two of the calls were from her home phone, and the remaining eleven were from Kagura.

She briskly walked past her room, heading for the hall closet where the first-aid kit was kept. As she searched for it, her phone buzzed.

She checked the screen. Kagura was calling.

She braced herself for Round Two. "Hello?"

"What's wrong with you?" Kagura hissed.

"Nice to hear from you too, Kagura."

"Shut up! What was all that earlier today?" Kagura demanded. "You can't call me to ask if you're hallucinating, then hang up right after I hear somebody screaming in the background. The entire conversation sounded like something you'd hear in a horror movie."

Chihiro let out a slow, long breath. "Yeah, I know. Sorry about that."

"I called you, what? Ten times?"

"Eleven."

"Eleven times! And you didn't pick up once." Kagura let out a disgusted grunt. "I was beginning to think you were dead, especially when your parents called my house to ask if I knew where you were!"

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for covering for me."

"You're not welcome. I was worried about you."

"Ugh, stop it," Chihiro moaned. "I just received the same speech from my parents."

"And now you're gonna hear it again," Kagura snapped. "Now, spill. Where were you, and what were you doing?"

"Hey Kagura, remember how you dragged me out of the warmth of my bed to drop me off in a cold, desolate amusement park?" Chihiro asked, her voice sharpened with an edge of sarcasm.

"What's your point?"

"You still owe me for that."

"What? No way!"

"Your payment can be not to pester me right now," Chihiro concluded. "I'll explain everything another time."

"I made up an alibi for you when your parents called," Kagura insisted. "My debt has been paid."

"That doesn't count. I still got yelled at."

"I never said you wouldn't."

"Well," Chihiro began, switching tactics, "you just said that you were worried about me."

"Of course I was."

"And I'm back home in one piece, right?"

"I guess..."

"So you don't have to worry about a thing. Goodbye."

"No, wait -"

Chihiro hung up.

She had told enough lies today and wasn't all that willing to continue her streak. At the same time, she couldn't risk telling the truth, either.

Kagura was her best friend, but a brainy one at that. There's no way she'd believe that Chihiro had fought alongside a dine-and-dashing, bat-winged jerk against a horde of angry shadow creatures, nor would she believe that the sun had set in just a matter of seconds. Chihiro herself was still having a difficult time coming to terms with it all.

She slid her phone in her back pocket as she spotted the first-aid kit sitting in the top-right corner of the closet. She grabbed it and quickly backtracked to her room.

She flipped the light switch on and promptly closed the door behind her.

"Yo."

Though she knew Mr. False was in the room, Chihiro still jumped at the sound of his voice.

She looked up to see him lounging across her bed, reading a teen beauty magazine. He looked so unnatural there, his red hair and yellow eyes contrasting greatly with the relative blue scheme of her room. His hair was matted with sweat, and his wound was still bleeding.

"What took you so long?" he asked, placing the magazine on the nearby nightstand. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed, revealing a body-shaped dust print all over the comforter.

Chihiro grimaced, trying not to think of what other-worldly germs he was spreading to her bed. "I was confronted by multiple people."

Mr. False frowned. "Do your parents know I'm here?"

Chihiro shook her head. "Of course not. They just yelled at me for having disappeared for a few hours. I had to lie to them so they wouldn't suspect anything."

He raised his eyebrows. "You lied to your parents?"

"Yes, I lied to my parents. Don't look so surprised. I'm a teenager, not a saint." Chihiro moved to sit next to him on the bed. "Besides, they'd never believe the truth."

"You look upset," he noted.

"I _am_ upset." She opened the kit. "It's not like I enjoy lying to my parents, and now my best friend probably thinks I'm a recently converted lunatic."

Mr. False was silent for a moment. "You didn't have to do that for my sake."

"What, lie?" Chihiro shook her head. "I didn't do it just for you. Like I said, nobody would ever believe me if I told what really happened today."

She rifled through the kit's contents, pulling out a packet of moist towelettes. She ripped it open and pulled out a wipe. She moved toward Mr. False with it.

He flinched back. "What are you doing?"

"Stay still. I have to clean that nasty cut on your forehead." She reached out with her free hand and gently pushed his hair out of the way before dabbing the gash with the wipe, removing any traces of dirt.

There were a few moments of awkward silence that followed.

"What's your name?" he asked suddenly.

Chihiro blinked, surprised that he even wanted to know. "Chihiro. Chihiro Ogino."

"Chihiro Ogino," he repeated, testing the words. He nodded, a look of satisfaction crossing his features.

"How about you? What's your name?" Chihiro asked.

She hadn't originally planned on learning this guy's name, especially since she had no desire to keep in touch with him after she was done playing nurse. But he asked for hers first, so it was only fair that she ask for his in return.

"Daisuke."

"Daisuke," Chihiro repeated. At least she didn't have to refer to him as Mr. False anymore. "You have a last name?"

"Of course not." He snorted. "What am I, human?"

"Sorry for asking," she muttered. She pulled the wipe back and, after inspecting the gash, reached back in the kit for a bandage. "But there's something else I've been wanting to know."

"What is it?"

She picked up a bandage and stripped its packaging off. "Back then, I could have been attacked by those... those things, but you pulled me out of the way. Twice, in fact. Why?"

"Oh, that? You're welcome."

"I'm asking you why you did it, not thanking you for it."

"Hmm. How do I put this?" He held his chin, thinking. "Humans are to me what dogs are to humans."

"You're calling me a dog?" Chihiro asked, unimpressed.

"No. I'm referring to something like a food chain," Daisuke insisted. "While you humans are clearly above dogs in hierarchical standing, wouldn't it be cruel to simply watch a dog die right in front of you?"

"Of course. If I could, I'd jump in to save that dog."

"Exactly. Us spirits think in a similar way." Daisuke paused. "But I guess I could ask you a similar thing."

"Why I jumped in to save you?" Chihiro pressed the bandage above Daisuke's left brow.

He nodded. "And not just that, either. All of this." He gestured to the first-aid kit. "Why are you being so kind to me?"

Chihiro shrugged. "I don't really know. When I saw you fighting those shadow things, I knew I couldn't just leave you to your death. Even if you did act like a jerk to me."

"You aren't doing this because I'm good-looking?"

"Exactly how conceited are you?"

"It's just... in the past, humans – women in particular – have always sought my affection over my safety. You took me by surprise."

"Then I guess I'm not like those other women," Chihiro said. "I wanted to help you. Think of it as an act of kindness."

"Huh."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Nothing."

Daisuke was absolutely intrigued by this woman. Before today, he'd thought that all humans were the same.

Over the centuries, he'd grown accustomed to human women throwing themselves at him, mesmerized by his perfect face. It didn't matter what he said to them or how cold he acted. They still lusted madly over his beauty and looked upon him like he was a prize to be won. He could have had a thousand gashes over his body and not one of them would have cared in the slightest.

His own kind had urged him to pick any random woman and take her as a bride so that the bloodline of his race could grow and continue. It didn't matter who he chose, since any human would be happy to marry him.

But the idea of marrying one of those beauty-hungry humans repulsed him. He couldn't do it, no matter how much his brothers pestered him. What was the rush, anyway? His kind was immortal. He saw no need to pass his genes on if he was going to live forever.

And then... he was hit by a different woman. Literally. She'd run headfirst into him and knocked herself down.

Chihiro Ogino.

At first, he was struck with confusion by her actions. She didn't blush or stammer when looking into his eyes, and then she'd even started yelling at him. That had never happened before. He didn't think much of the encounter, figuring that even though the girl was different personality-wise, she'd never sincerely reach out to help him.

That's why he was surprised when she did. Once again, she'd run straight into him, this time knocking him into the ground. Had she not done that, he would have been defeated by the shadow spirit lurking undetected behind him. What's more, she'd refused to leave his side during the fight, preferring to risk her life for the sake of his.

And now, she was pasting band-aids to his forehead over a cut that would have healed on its own by morning.

She was different. And after centuries of routine, Daisuke liked different.

"Chihiro Ogino," he said.

"Yes, that is my name," she replied, closing the kit. "When do you think you're going to leave?"

"...Never."

"What was that?" Chihiro asked, not sure she'd heard right.

"Never," he repeated, his eyes locking with hers.

"You sure have a twisted sense of humor." She pushed her hand against his chest. "Nice meeting you, though. Now, get out."

He grabbed her hand with one of his.

Chihiro tried to pull back, becoming both annoyed and freaked out by his hold on her. "Let go of me."

One side of his mouth curled up in an amused grin. "Woman..."

She looked at him.

"How would you like to be my wife?"

* * *

**A/N When I say that I just finished this chapter, I literally mean that I _just _finished this chapter. So like Chapter Two, there may or may not be minor detail changes within the next twenty-four hours.**

**Anyway, Daisuke's new infatuation with Chihiro is surely bound to cause problems in the future, especially with our favorite dragon. Let's see what happens. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Trigonometry, Not Magic

**A/N Sorry for not updating for a few weeks. I've been super busy with schoolwork, and I'm actually writing this at 3 in the morning. So forgive me if a few things seem off.**

* * *

Chihiro curled her hands into fists, leaving crescent-shaped nail marks embedded in her palms. She'd been doing that a lot over the past two days, especially whenever she thought about Daisuke. She hadn't seen him since he'd asked her to be his wife, but that was probably due to the fact that she had practically thrown him out of her window afterwards.

What was his problem? So she made his boo-boo all better. That didn't mean she wanted to marry the guy! She didn't even know him all that well, and vice-versa. What she _did _know about him was that he was an arrogant, condescending son-of-a-bitch who must have mistaken her kindness for flirtation.

One moment he was stepping all over her pathetic human self, and the next he was proposing to her. Unbelievable.

"...and that's when I told her that I really didn't like her haircut." Bits of Kagura's voice filtered through Chihiro's train of thought.

She looked to her right, where Kagura was walking next to her. "Huh?"

Kagura sighed. "Chihiro, you've been completely out of it lately."

"Sorry."

The two were walking home from school, huddled into themselves for warmth as the winter breeze picked up. Their skirts offered no protection from the biting cold, and their thighs were beginning to pale and freeze. Kagura must have been talking the whole time, but Chihiro hadn't noticed.

When Chihiro had gone to school on Monday, Kagura had immediately demanded an explanation to the Sunday phone call. Chihiro had given the lame excuse that she'd just been tired and incoherent, and that the screaming in the background had been from a movie playing on her television. Kagura didn't believe any of that and remained suspicious, but thankfully, didn't press the issue. Even Miss Relentless knew that some secrets were meant to be kept as secrets.

Since then, Chihiro was determined to not let Kagura suspect anything else was wrong, but she wasn't doing such a great job. Especially since over the past two days, her mind had been completely revolved around Daisuke and what he'd said.

"Are you not feeling well?" Kagura asked. "You haven't been speaking all that much."

Chihiro shrugged. "I'm fine."

The two walked in silence, and Chihiro became absorbed in her thoughts once again.

What _was _Daisuke, anyway? She knew that he wasn't human, but that was where the extent of her knowledge ended. He'd been pretty upfront with her since the beginning, yet he still hadn't revealed his exact identity. She hadn't initially cared for what he was, but thinking about it made her curious. Either he'd never gotten the chance to tell her, or he was hiding something important.

"Hey Kagura," Chihiro said. "Can I ask you something?"

Kagura, pleased that Chihiro was finally initiating a conversation, smiled brightly. "Sure."

"I was surfing the internet a few days ago, and I came across a strange-looking creature on a random site." Not all of this was a lie. To her, Daisuke _was _indeed a strange-looking creature.

"I didn't know what it was, so I thought that you would know," she continued.

Kagura sucked in a breath. "You came to _me_ for this? You know I can't stand all that fairytale garbage. I don't know anything about mythological creatures."

"But you're the smartest person I know," Chihiro complimented, feeling a bit guilty for sucking up to her friend just for information. "If anyone were to know what it was, I'd bet on you."

Kagura blushed appreciatively. "Can't argue with that. Describe it to me."

"Let's see..." Chihiro tapped her forefinger against her lip. "It had the head and body of a man, a heart-tipped tail, horns like a ram's, and bat-like wings." She knew not to mention the red hair and yellow eyes.

Kagura furrowed her brows. "Was its face ugly or beautiful?"

Chihiro grimaced, remembering Daisuke's self-absorption. "_I _didn't think it was beautiful."

"So it _was_ beautiful," Kagura said. "And I think I know what it is."

Chihiro gasped. "You do?"

Kagura nodded. "Yeah. My crazy, religious aunt once told me about it over dinner. She knows way too much about hell's creatures than is comfortably possible."

"Hell's creatures?" Chihiro repeated, not liking the sound of that.

"Yup. What you saw was an incubus."

"In-cu-bus?" Chihiro furrowed her brows. "I've heard of it before, but I never knew what it was."

"All you really have to know about the incubus is that it is a creature of _sex_." Kagura giggled.

Chihiro cocked her head to the side. "Can I get a more in-depth elaboration?"

"Incubi are creatures that engage in sexual activity with sleeping women." Kagura's cool, pedantic alter-ego had come out. "The human women who fall prey to the incubus's advances are able to conceive and carry his offspring, allowing the creature's race to flourish."

There was a beat of silence as Chihiro absorbed the information.

"So you're saying that these incubi rape women in their sleep for their own greedy desires?" Chihiro asked through grit teeth.

Kagura shrugged, oblivious to Chihiro's brewing anger. "Pretty much. But guys have to watch out, too. The female counterpart of the incubus is the succubus, which preys in a similar way but exclusively on sleeping men."

Chihiro shook her head. "How gross."

Kagura nodded in agreement. "But looks can be deceiving. Incubi and succubi are typically known to sport beautiful appearances, helping them lure in human victims."

"I don't believe this," Chihiro said, mostly to herself.

"Yeah, I don't believe it, either," Kagura agreed. "The incubus and succubus don't exist. They're just fables made up by people who needed an excuse when they were caught cheating on their spouses."

Chihiro opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How was she supposed to explain that one of these supposed fables had popped the question to her?

If she was angry before, she was livid now.

Daisuke was an incubus. A dirty, sex-crazed incubus. He didn't actually want to marry Chihiro, not that she'd wanted his affection in the first place. He probably wanted to lure her into trusting him before letting his true nature shine.

Her nostrils flared as her nails dug even harder into her skin. He'd better hope to never crossed paths with her again.

"...tomorrow."

Chihiro looked up. "What?"

Kagura huffed impatiently. "I said, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh." They were at the fork in the road where Chihiro's street separated from Kagura's. "Yeah, see you tomorrow."

* * *

Chihiro usually hated Trigonometry homework, but tonight, it provided a much needed distraction. Still, her pencil paused in the middle of an equation as stray thoughts siphoned into her state of mind.

What would she do if Daisuke came back? Was she strong enough to protect herself from something that wasn't human?

Unlike Kagura's aunt, Chihiro wasn't particularly too involved in religion. Not that she didn't believe in God, but her mind was always preoccupied with things other than prayers. Now, she was beginning to regret her lack of faith. With Daisuke reportedly being a fallen angel, what if she needed the protection of the father, the son, or the holy spirit?

She shook her head, not wanting to even think about the possibility of Daisuke returning. Hopefully, he understood that her shoving him out of her window was an indication that he was to remain much further than an arm's length away from her.

Taking deep breaths and convincing herself that she had nothing to fear, she returned to her work.

She was just finding the value of _x _for which_ (f)x = g(x) _when Yuko called up to her from downstairs.

"Chihiro? Come help me set the table."

"Okay, be right there," Chihiro called back, flipping her textbook closed.

As she was walking down the stairs, there was a knock on the door.

"It's awfully late for visitors," Yuko said, appearing by the foot of the stairs. "You didn't invite anyone over, did you?"

"No." She walked past her mother and to the door. "I wonder who it could be...?"

When she opened it, she immediately wished she hadn't.

There, standing in the cold with a stupid grin on his face, was Daisuke.

He wore beige trousers and a gray sweater-vest over a blue cardigan. His hair was still unnaturally red and his eyes still unnaturally yellow, and he gazed at her through a pair of thick-wired glasses. The battle scar above his left eye was no longer there.

He smelled strongly of a musky, citrusy scent that reminded Chihiro of some of her male peers. Dear lord, was he wearing cologne?

He'd cleaned up since the last time Chihiro saw him. That didn't mean she wanted him anywhere near her or her property.

"You...!" she gasped, grasping her mind for anything to say.

He held up a hand in greeting. "Hey."

Yuko came by to stand next to her daughter. Taking one good look at the visitor, she gasped. "Now, who is this?"

"Hello, Mrs. Ogino," Daisuke greeted, extending a hand to Yuko. "I'm Daisuke. I know your daughter."

Before Chihiro could slam the door in his face, Yuko took his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Daisuke."

Chihiro couldn't believe this. There was her mother, a woman appearing to be at least twenty years this guy's senior, actually blushing over his presence.

Yuko turned to her daughter. "Chihiro, you didn't tell me you knew such a handsome boy." Then, to Daisuke. "How do you know my daughter? Are you two classmates?"

"Actually, Mom -" Chihiro began.

"It's okay, Chihiro," Daisuke cut her off.

"No, it's _not _okay," Chihiro retorted. "Now, get out of here before I -"

"Our secret was bound to come out sometime," Daisuke cut her off again. "You know that."

"What?" Chihiro arched a brow, wondering where this idiot was taking the conversation. "What are you talking about?"

By this point, Akio had appeared in the background, listening quietly but intently to the exchange.

"Secret? What secret?" Yuko asked, swiveling her head between Chihiro and Daisuke.

Daisuke cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Mrs. and Mr. Ogino, I'm going to be very upfront."

"About what?" Chihiro demanded.

Everybody ignored her.

"You see," Daisuke continued, "your daughter and I have been dating for the past year, and I thought it would be appropriate to finally introduce myself."

The jaws of the Ogino family simultaneously dropped.

Akio was the first to break the silence. "Chihiro? Is this true?" He didn't seem too thrilled about the news.

Through grit teeth, Chihiro responded. "No, of course not."

"Oh, don't be like that," Daisuke teased, his demeanor utterly happy-go-lucky. "You're the one who said that if we wanted to get married, I'd have to meet your parents first."

"Marriage?" Yuko and Akio said at the same time. Only, Yuko looked excited in contrast to her husband, who looked absolutely flabbergasted.

"No, this is all a mistake," Chihiro insisted to her parents. "This guy's a creep. We've never dated, and we sure aren't getting married at any point in this lifetime."

Daisuke laughed lightly. "She's so funny, isn't she? That's one of the many reasons why I fell for her."

Chihiro stepped forward and grabbed his collar. Pulling his face close to hers, she threw him the nastiest glare she could conjure. In a low voice, she said, "Look, I don't know what your deal is, but I'm giving you ten seconds to get off my porch and out of my life."

Daisuke, not wavered by her threat, smiled at her. "Not without my fiancé."

"In case you didn't know, me throwing you out my window was a definite _no _to your brainless proposal."

"Chihiro!" Yuko chastised. "You shouldn't do that so bluntly, especially in front of us."

Chihiro immediately released her hold on Daisuke's shirt, realizing what that must have looked like to her parents. "No, I'm not -"

"I can't believe you hid the fact that you had a boyfriend from us," Akio interrupted, coming to stand beside his wife. His face was flushed in fatherly anger as he watched what appeared to be an intimate exchange between his daughter and her yearlong boyfriend.

"Because I never had one to begin with!" Chihiro exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Mom, Dad, I'm telling you the truth when I say that I hardly even know this guy!"

"Oh, Chihiro. There's no need to be embarrassed by this," Yuko said, wrapping an arm around her daughter. "Even _I _didn't tell my parents about your father and I until five months after we started dating."

"No more," Chihiro moaned, hating it when her mother reminisced about the _olden times. _"I'm being serious, and neither of you are listening!"

"I'm listening," Akio interjected. "And once your boyfriend goes home, you and I are going to have a long talk about keeping secrets in this family."

"Are you kidding?" Chihiro demanded. "I'm not lying about this!"

Ignoring her daughter's rant, Yuko turned to Daisuke. "We're just about to eat dinner. Would you like to join us? It's freezing out here!"

Throwing Chihiro a victory smirk, Daisuke stepped inside the house. "I'd be glad to."

* * *

"I can't believe you live in Okinawa," Akio said. "I went to college there!"

"Isn't it such a great place?" Daisuke asked. "It's like living in one, big tourist attraction."

Akio nodded. "I used to visit the Yaeyama Islands all the time. They're just south of the city."

"Really? I was going to go visit in a few weeks. Please, tell me more about them."

"I don't believe this," Chihiro muttered from her seat on Daisuke's right.

Over the span of a steak-and-potato-dinner, Akio had warmed up considerably to Chihiro's "boyfriend." While Daisuke had been nothing but polite and reserved to the Ogino parents, Chihiro knew he was full of bullshit. Twice, she had tried to call the police, but Yuko had grabbed the phone from her hand before the line could connect.

"Why would you call the cops on your own boyfriend?" Yuko had demanded.

And Chihiro had replied, "Because he's not my boyfriend!"

Even so, neither of her parents believed her. And why should they? Aside from his unusual dyed hair and colored contact lenses, Daisuke appeared to be a smart and capable young man. In their minds, their daughter had hit the jackpot in the dating world.

If only they knew Daisuke's true intentions.

Chihiro tightened her jaw and grasped her fork in her hand. She knew she wasn't safe with an incubus in her house. He'd probably only saved her life to begin with just so he could take advantage of her later.

Her knuckles turned white at the idea.

In no way was she a useless damsel in distress. It didn't matter that she didn't have the support of her parents. She would have dealt with Daisuke by herself from the start.

Even if that meant doing something illegal.

She watched as Daisuke pierced a heaping bite of steak with his fork. Gripping her own fork, she reeled her arm back and prepared to strike.

At that moment, she didn't care if her own parents called the cops on her. She'd rather sit in a prison cell for the rest of her life than let this demonic being corrupt her sleeping body. If there was one thing she'd be able to walk away with from this, it would be her pride.

Daisuke's eyes silently flashed up to hers before the impact, and the fork flew out of her hand and onto the ground as if pulled by an invisible force.

"Chihiro, is something wrong?" Akio asked, looking after her fallen utensil.

"Yes, something is wrong!" Chihiro said, visibly shaken by Daisuke's telepathic ability.

"Well, what is it?"

She pointed at Daisuke. "You see this guy? He's not my boyfriend!"

"Oh, enough with that," Yuko said from her place at the kitchen sink. "Stop being so dramatic."

Chihiro groaned in exasperation. Nothing she said was being taken seriously. Telling her parents that Daisuke was in fact a rapist from hell wouldn't do her much good.

She stood up abruptly, needing to get away from the room. "I'm excusing myself."

"Good idea," Yuko said. "You can show Daisuke around the house."

"That's not what I was -"

"Don't worry about cleaning up tonight. You spend time with your boyfriend." Yuko winked.

Chihiro stared. Did her mother seriously just _wink _at her?

She shuddered and focused her attention on Daisuke, who was staring up innocently at her.

"Daisuke," she called his name sarcastically sweet. "Why don't I show you my room?"

"Okay," he agreed, standing up.

"Keep the door open," Akio warned.

Chihiro rolled her eyes. She couldn't say a single word without it being misinterpreted.

"Sure thing, Dad." She grabbed Daisuke by the arm, making sure her nails dug into his flesh as she led him away from the table and up the stairs.

"Don't you think you're holding on a bit too tight?" Daisuke asked, his expression amused.

"Shut up," she hissed as they reached the second floor.

She shoved Daisuke into her room and, despite her father's warning, closed the door behind her. She didn't want her parents to hear the inevitable argument that was surely on the way.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but I do know what you are." She tried her best to look intimidating even though he was a few inches taller than her, forcing her neck to crane back just to see his face. "You're an incubus."

"Took you long enough," Daisuke replied, appearing not all that concerned that his very existence was being unveiled by a seventeen-year-old girl.

"Is that all you have to say?" Chihiro demanded, her face turning a few shades red.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe you can brush on the details of how you rape women in their sleep? Or that you only use humans for the sake of your own survival!"

"First, can we talk about how you just tried to stab me with a fork?"

"That was for my own safety!"

Daisuke sighed and wiped his hands across his face. "I knew I'd have to explain myself eventually. You humans are so stupid."

"Do you seriously think you have to audacity to call me stupid?"

"Yes, I do," Daisuke replied. "Because you're making all these false assumptions about me and my kind."

"Why should I believe that what I heard about you is false?"

"Well, where did you receive this information from? Was it through some kind of religious freak?" Daisuke guessed.

"Uh..." Her argument ran dry. She did indirectly receive the information from Kagura's aunt, who was, without a doubt, religiously insane. The woman doused Kagura in holy water whenever she got the chance.

"That's what I thought," Daisuke said in lieu of her silence. He walked over to her bed and sat on the edge. "Now, come sit here and let me defend myself."

Chihiro raised her eyebrows at him. "No way. I am _not _sitting on a _bed _with _you."_

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "Fine. Sit, stand, I don't care. Just hear me out, okay?"

Chihiro didn't say anything, and Daisuke took that as a cue to speak.

"Throughout all of history, you humans have pinned me as a demon, which is absolutely ridiculous."

"Why is that ridiculous?"

"Because a demon is essentially an angel who has been cast out of heaven." He said this like it was a very obvious fact.

"You're a former angel?"

Daisuke gave a short, dry laugh. "Of course not. The point I'm trying to make is that I've been an incubus from the start. There were no prissy little angels involved in my birth."

"So...?" Chihiro prompted, digging for more information.

"So I'm not a demon. I'm a spirit."

"That doesn't change the fact that you come on to sleeping women," Chihiro pointed out.

Daisuke huffed exasperatingly as if he was used to hearing the same accusations. "I don't do that. Neither do any of my brothers."

Chihiro raised her eyebrows, not entirely convinced.

"While it is true that we use humans to birth our young, we always make sure to receive consent from them beforehand. We'd never forcefully take an unwilling human."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Daisuke shrugged. "Believe what you want. But it was the religious extremists of your kind that initially spread the lies about mine. They didn't condone different species intermingling."

Chihiro tried to come up with another contradiction to his statement, but her mind drew blank. She knew nothing about spirits or religious history.

"I saved you, remember?" Daisuke reminded her. Then, quieter, "You don't have to be afraid of me."

She blinked, surprised at the softness in his tone.

No, she didn't have to be afraid of him.

Deep down, she knew Daisuke was right. She had already acknowledged the fact that it was unlikely for Daisuke to harm her since he did save her life. If he had wanted to sincerely torment her, he would have done so already. She shouldn't have been so quick to judge his intentions. Hastiness was an unbroken characteristic of hers.

"So maybe you're right," Chihiro resigned. "But what are you doing here?"

Daisuke smiled. "I've come to retrieve my wife."

"I really hope you're not talking about me. Didn't you just say that you'd never marry an unwilling woman?"

"Just because you're unwilling to marry me now doesn't mean you won't change your mind later," Daisuke said. "I still have time to win your love."

"You're so optimistic about this that it actually hurts. Unfortunately for you, I don't plan on marrying anything that isn't human."

Daisuke shrugged, trying to keep the confident smirk on his face from spreading.

Chihiro opened her door and pointed outside. "Goodbye, Daisuke."

"Wait." Daisuke shook his head as if trying to remember something. "There's a legitimate reason why I came to see you tonight. I've been meaning to ask you something that's been on my mind over the past few days."

"If you're asking me to be your wife again, then forget it."

"No, not that. I wanted to know where you got your hair tie from."

"My hair tie?"

"Yes, your hair tie. You know, the one that nearly blinded us in a magical light as it saved our lives?" His condescending attitude was back in full swing.

"I know what hair tie you're talking about," Chihiro snapped. "But how do you expect me to know where I got it from? It probably cost something like two-hundred yen at a local store."

"Do you really think that a measly, store-bought hair tie would have such great, magical potential?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I really wouldn't know. Lately, I've been doing my best to study trigonometry, not magic."

Sighing, Daisuke held out his hand. "Let me see it."

Chihiro walked over to her dresser and picked up the tie. She flung it into Daisuke's waiting palm.

"Hmm..." He brought the tie close to his face, squinting at it in concentration. He pulled and twisted it, making sure to inspect every detail.

"Well?" Chihiro asked after a minute.

Daisuke flung it back at her. She quickly caught it before snapping it around her wrist.

"It's definitely something that was made in my world," Daisuke surmised.

Chihiro furrowed her brows. "Your world?"

Daisuke nodded. "Its fibers are made up of a very precise magic. Only someone with many years of experience could have crafted it."

"But what do you mean by 'my world'?"

Daisuke stared at her, fighting the urge to degrade her clueless human self. "You didn't know? That amusement park we first met in is a portal that separates my world from yours."

Now it was Chihiro's turn to stare. What she was hearing sounded a lot like the silly fables that circulated amongst the locals.

"You're joking, right?" she asked.

Daisuke shook his head slowly. "Why do you think I was so desperate to get you out of there before the sun set?"

Chihiro swallowed hard. Just when she thought the surprises finally ended, they didn't. She'd seen too much of the unexplainable to dispute this new piece of information. She just wished that everything she originally thought was fiction would stay fiction.

"So... you think I got this tie from your world?" Chihiro tentatively asked.

"It's unlikely that you got it from anywhere else." Daisuke lowered himself until he was lying against the bed. "Whoever made the tie made it specifically for you. That would explain why it protected you from the shadow spirits, as would it explain why you're able to resist my good looks."

"Please. With or without the tie, I still wouldn't feel anything more than a mutual, non-romantic _friendship_ towards you." She said _friendship _like it was a curse-word.

Daisuke pursed his lips, clearly wanting to refute this statement.

"Anyway," Chihiro continued, "I've never even left this country, and I'm pretty sure I've never left this world, either."

"But you're not completely sure, are you?"

Chihiro hesitated.

No, she wasn't completely sure. While Daisuke had predominantly taken over her thoughts during the last forty-eight hours, she hadn't forgotten about the green eyes and their unknown origin. She was no closer to uncovering their mystery than when they had first appeared in her mind. What's more, she now had the mystery of a glowing, magical hair tie to take into account as well.

"Well," Chihiro began, "apparently, I've been to the amusement park long before you and I met."

"Apparently?" Daisuke echoed.

Chihiro nodded. "It was the day I first moved to this town. My mom said that we only stopped there for a few minutes, but I can't remember any of it."

Daisuke sat up. "What else did she tell you?"

"Um..." Chihiro thought back to their conversation. "She said that when we got back to the car, it was covered in dust as if we had been gone for a few days."

"That's it!" Daisuke's eyes widened in understanding.

"What?"

He turned to look at her. "There's not a doubt in my mind that you've been to the Spirit World before, and it appears that someone has erased your memories."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah." He stood up and began pacing. "This kind of makes sense, too. There was too much risk in allowing you, a human girl, to walk away from another world with your memories still intact; you could have exploited the entire spirit race."

Chihiro liked to think that her ten-year-old self would not have done that, especially since the current her couldn't even tell her parents that Daisuke wasn't human. But someone had sealed away her memories for a reason, and she got the feeling that she was never supposed to find out.

"What this person didn't know," Daisuke continued, "is that nobody here believes a word you say, so you couldn't have revealed much about the Spirit World even if you'd tried."

"That's not true!" Chihiro huffed. "My parents believe me when I lie."

"Yeah, but they sure don't believe you when you tell the truth." He grinned. "No matter how much you tried to convince them that I wasn't your boyfriend, they wouldn't listen to you. I almost felt sorry."

"Glad to receive your sympathy," Chihiro muttered. "But back to the subject. I want to uncover these missing memories of mine."

"Nice enthusiasm." Daisuke gave her a thumbs-up.

She glared at him. "I was hoping you'd offer a way to help me."

Daisuke sucked in a breath. "I _would _help you, but I don't have the magical capability to unlock forgotten memories."

"Then take me to someone who does," she insisted, unfazed.

A vein in his jaw twitched. "Listen, Chihiro. I know you want your memories back, but right now, that's not going to happen any time soon."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know anybody who's strong enough to help you." His tone said: _so there. _

Chihiro was silent for a moment when an idea hit her. "What about that witch?"

With over-rehearsed confusion, Daisuke asked, "What witch?"

"I think you know exactly what witch. You know, the one that tried to turn you into a pig?"

Daisuke huffed out an aggravated breath. "Yubaba is not an option."

"And why not?"

"You said so yourself. She tried to turn me into a pig. We're not going to her."

"Let me get this straight," Chihiro said. "You won't help me uncover part of my past just because you _couldn't pay for a meal?"_

"You don't get it." Daisuke dragged his hands through his hair. "Yubaba is one of the worst souls ever to roam the land."

"She can't be that bad. I wouldn't like the idea of somebody stealing from me, either. Besides, it's you she's holding a grudge against, not me. She might be willing to help."

* * *

**A/N Like I say every chapter, I may or may not revise this depending how I feel when I'm more awake. I've already got my ideas plotted for Chapter Five, so you can expect something relatively soon. Also, forgive me if you think Chihiro's a touch too bold. I've always imagined her to grow up into an actual, witty and sarcastic teenager rather than a delicate little lady. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Definitely You

**A/N Sorry for not updating in a while. Luckily, school ends in a little more than two weeks. With any luck, I'll be able to post a chapter every month.**

* * *

"You lie to your parents a lot," Daisuke noted as he slid into the vehicle's passenger seat.

"Only when it comes to you," Chihiro replied, plugging in the keys and revving the engine. "Although, I can't believe how easy it was for them to believe me."

Daisuke had finally agreed to take Chihiro to see Yubaba, a witch who could potentially lift the seal that locked away Chihiro's memories. And Chihiro, eager to see if the strange green eyes had anything to do with her memory loss, had insisted that they go to Yubaba right away. This of course meant that she had to come up with yet another excuse to her parents that explained her whereabouts.

"Why would it be so hard to believe that we're going to see a movie?" Daisuke leaned back against his seat.

Chihiro pulled onto the highway. "Because I have school tomorrow, and it's starting to get late. The only reason they let me leave the house is because they think I'm going on a date with a guy they absolutely adore."

"You're parents _do _adore me, don't they?" Daisuke chuckled to himself. "Not that I'm surprised. I seem to have that effect on many of your kind."

"Whether they adore you or not, they'd never let you marry me any time soon. I'm only seventeen, and they just met you."

Daisuke smirked. "Like I need their blessing."

"Whatever you say, your highness."

After a few short minutes, they were back on the dirt road. Unlike her previous visit with Kagura, Chihiro didn't even have the dim light of the sunset to guide her through the woods. She promptly switched her high-beams on.

"You have the hair tie with you, right?" Daisuke asked.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Chihiro lifted up her free one. "It's right around my wrist."

"Good. You'll need it for protection."

"Protection? From what?" Chihiro asked warily.

"You can never be too careful in the Spirit Realm, especially if you're human. Some spirits will outright loathe you for that very reason. Just keep the tie on you at all times."

Chihiro shuddered, remembering her encounter with the shadow spirits. "How long do you think we'll be here?"

Daisuke shrugged. "Hopefully just an hour or two. It really depends on how long it will take Yubaba to lift the seal, if she's even able to do so at all."

"What if she's not able to do it?" A small degree of uncertainty could be heard in her voice.

"I've been trying to get this possibility ingrained into your mind ever since we left your house, but you wouldn't listen!"

"I know, and I'm sorry for that." She bit her lip in frustration. "It's just that I can practically feel the absence of something important from my memories, and ignoring it is no longer an option. But now that I'm actually about to confront this Yubaba, I realize that I don't have a Plan B if she can't help."

"Then we find another solution," Daisuke said. "No big deal."

"Easier said than done."

"True, but keep in mind that the Spirit Realm abides by the law of balance. If there's someone powerful enough to erase your memories, then there's someone powerful enough to bring them back." He glanced at her. "You'll definitely get your memories back one way or another. I'm sure of it."

"Daisuke..." Chihiro was beyond thankful for Daisuke's positivity and willingness to help. He could have left her to deal with her amnesia alone, but he voluntarily chose to stay. In the long run, he really was a good person.

"Besides," Daisuke continued. "Even if you don't get your memories back, what's the problem? I proposed to you. That should be enough to satisfy you for the rest of your life."

If only he wasn't such an arrogant simpleton.

Chihiro sighed.

"What?" Daisuke asked.

"Nothing."

The entrance of the tunnel came into view.

"We're here," Chihiro announced, easing her foot onto the brake. The car came to a smooth stop, parking itself just a few feet away from the smiling statue.

Chihiro got out of the car and stared at the entrance.

"So how do we cross over to the Spirit Realm?" Chihiro asked as Daisuke came to stand beside her.

"Simple. We walk through the tunnel."

"That's it?" Chihiro asked.

"That's it."

"I don't believe that," Chihiro said doubtfully.

"Why not?"

"Many of the locals have come here before, and as far as I know, nothing has ever happened to them."

"That's because most humans aren't able to cross over."

"But _I_ was able to," Chihiro interjected. "Do you think that my entering the Spirit Realm was simply a luck of the draw?"

"I doubt it. As far as I know, it's impossible for a human to just waltz right on in. But," Daisuke said, holding up an appraising finger, "a human is almost entirely guaranteed entrance if he or she is in the presence of a spirit."

That certainly explained why Daisuke was sticking around; she'd never be able to enter his world without him. "So what, you're like my golden ticket?"

"If that's what you want to call me, then yeah."

"But why wouldn't I be able to enter without you?"

Daisuke shrugged. "Nobody knows for sure. But some think that in even the briefest of encounters between a human and a spirit, some of the spirit's magic momentarily rubs onto the human, which confuses the portal that separates the two worlds."

Chihiro thought for a moment. "So if I've been to the other world before, then that means...?"

Daisuke nodded at her unfinished thought. "You've probably had some form of interaction with a spirit right before you crossed over. It's the only explanation, really."

It was hard to let that sink in. She'd interacted with an entirely different being before but had no memory of doing so? The idea seemed too bizarre to fathom and she almost doubted that something like that even happened at all. What, did she run into Santa Claus on the way inside the park?

_Chihiro..._

Chihiro gasped sharply, nearly falling to her knees.

_Chihiro..._

The smooth but mysterious voice was back, accompanied by the vision of those piercing, green eyes. And like all the previous times she had heard his voice and seen his eyes, Chihiro had no idea who this person was or what he meant to her, if he even meant anything at all.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Daisuke grabbed her elbow, holding her up before she hit the ground.

Experiencing the voice and eyes of this person was nothing new – the first time had been years ago in her dreams. But now, this experience was somehow more crushing, more devastating. Was it because she was close to solving its mystery? Or was it because her mind refused to be left in the dark any longer?

Either way, she wasn't sure how to interpret the overall demeanor of this mysterious person. While his voice was lovely and his eyes were peaceful, was the person himself really as pleasing as these traits suggested? For just the vague memory of him held a power over Chihiro that was strong enough to make her knees go weak. Was she afraid, or enamored?

It was then that Chihiro realized she was trembling. Even her vision shook as she struggled to take a deep breath. She found herself leaning against Daisuke's side as she struggled to regain her balance.

"I'm fine," Chihiro breathily insisted, speaking more to herself than to Daisuke. She broke away from him, straightening herself out while pulling in deep, raspy breaths.

She liked to think that this Yubaba would help her get to the bottom of these green eyes, but nothing was certain. In the possible event where she'd leave the park empty-handed of information, only then would she allow herself to collapse and hyperventilate like a thirsty dog. In the meantime, she had to pull herself together. She almost felt embarrassed for letting Daisuke see her so vulnerable.

"You good?" Daisuke asked after Chihiro's breathing had returned to normal.

Chihiro nodded. "Yeah."

"The hell was that?"

"Uh... asthma attack, maybe." It was a better explanation than what had actually happened. She still didn't want to share her green eyes with the likes of Daisuke. He'd laugh at her.

"What's an asthma attack?"

"It's when your airway swells up and makes breathing really difficult," she said, hoping she sounded cool and calculated like Kagura. "I think all the dirt and dust around here is what triggered it."

Daisuke shook his head. "You were dry-heaving over a bit of dust? You humans are so fragile it's almost pathetic."

"Thanks for your concern."

Daisuke released a deep breath. "Well, whatever that was, don't do it again."

"Trust me, I won't." Chihiro started for the tunnel. With the anxiety-driven meltdown she'd just experienced, she was even more eager to resolve the current mysteries surrounding her life.

"Wait up!" Daisuke called after her as she speed-walked through the darkness.

"Keep up!" Chihiro responded, not breaking her step. She walked with her palm pressed against the wall, guiding herself through the pitch blackness. "I want to meet Yubaba as soon as possible."

"Relax, Yubaba's not going anywhere. And you should seriously slow down."

"I'll slow down once I have my memories back." She knew she sounded stubborn, but the determination was forcing her legs faster and faster.

"I know you don't usually take orders from anyone, but you might want to listen to me just this once." Daisuke's voice sounded closer.

"Why?" Chihiro asked, still moving forward.

"Because up ahead is -"

_Splash!_

"What is this?!" Chihiro shrieked, struggling to stay afloat in the ocean that had magically appeared at the end of the tunnel. Her throat and eyes burned with saltwater as she coughed for air.

"I told you to slow down," Daisuke chastised from above her, his wings beating the air against her face. "But as usual, you didn't listen."

"Since when was there an ocean here?" Chihiro asked, treading the water.

"Since we crossed over into the Spirit Realm."

"We crossed over? Already?" While Daisuke did say that all they had to do was go through the tunnel, Chihiro couldn't believe how quick and easy it really was. She thought she'd at least feel _something _as she transitioned between two different worlds. But aside from being soaked in saltwater, she felt exactly the same.

She groaned as her mind fully caught up with her current situation. Swimming with one hand, she reached into her pocket with the other and grabbed her phone. She held it above the ocean's surface and groaned again. The screen was pitch black and unresponsive.

Additionally, she could kiss goodbye to her favorite jeans and sweater, which now clung wetly against her skin. She could feel the salt already starting to crust in her hair and she immediately longed for a hot shower.

She'd been in the Spirit Realm for all of thirty seconds and so far, her trip wasn't looking too great.

She turned to observe her surroundings. What once was a grassy meadow was now a vast ocean, illuminated by an abnormally large moon. To her right were... train tracks? And further in the distance was...

"Is that the amusement park?" Chihiro asked in awe. The usually desolate park was now filled with noise and light. She could see silhouettes moving about the buildings, indicating the presence of life.

Daisuke looked on with her. "Not anymore. Now, it's a popular city overrun with spirits."

"I don't believe this," Chihiro said in wonder. She really was in another world.

"Maybe you'll believe it when you're not stranded in the middle of the ocean," Daisuke said. "Are you done swimming?"

As if on cue, Chihiro's teeth began to chatter. "Yeah," she replied, still holding her phone above the water even though she knew the damage had already been done.

Daisuke hovered over her, reaching out his hand. "Come here."

Chihiro happily complied, grasping his warm hand with her cold one. His wings beat faster to support the added weight as he hoisted her up into his arms. She quickly reached behind her to slide her phone back into her soggy pocket. Once she was secure, Daisuke took off for the city.

"I feel sick," Chihiro mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Oh, sorry," Daisuke said. "I forgot you get motion sickness from flying."

Chihiro groaned in response. The fact that her current surroundings smelled of salt and fish wasn't helping.

"If you puke on me, I'm going to have to drop you," he threatened.

She dug her face into his neck, relishing the warmth he was emitting. Wearing soaking wet clothes during the winter wasn't exactly the best way to keep warm.

After a few moments of steady flying, Chihiro pulled in a deep breath in an attempt to clear her head. She was surprised, however, as she registered the rich scent of a barbecue.

Curious, she risked taking a peek below.

They were about thirty meters above the town. She couldn't believe how different the town looked – it was so _bright_. The lights that brightened the interiors of shops and the sides of streets cast deep shadows everywhere, but Chihiro immediately realized that these shadows were moving of their own accord.

"Aren't those the things that attacked us?" she asked, her eyes fixated on the shadows.

Daisuke glanced down. "They're the same type of spirit, but don't worry. They're just customers now. They won't come after us."

"If you say so..."

Then the big, red building came into view. Somehow, Chihiro knew that this was her destination and she could feel her eyes widen as she took it in.

It was about four to five stories tall, the proud structure supported by a strong, concrete base that was somehow embedded into the ocean floor. The building's pagoda-styled roofs were painted a deep green, contrasting greatly with the china-red color scheme of the building itself. A long, industrial-like chimney stood directly to the building's left, and from it billowed a steady stream of black smoke.

The building's front entrance tapered off into a long and curved bridge that connected the building to the town. A few groups of creatures she'd never seen before – overgrown chicks and frogs walking on two legs - were making their way across the bridge and inside the building.

"This is a bathhouse," Daisuke explained, watching Chihiro's curious expressions. "Yubaba's bathhouse."

"It's stunning," was all Chihiro could say.

Daisuke snorted. "Just wait until you meet the owner herself."

Instead of landing at the entrance, he flew up to the highest level. He hovered right outside of the middle window.

Chihiro looked up at him. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you to Yubaba. Her office is right here," he said, jerking his chin toward the window. "I figured this would make our visit shorter than if we walked through the front door."

As he was saying this, Chihiro could see a few drops of sweat dew above his brow despite it being winter. Furthermore, his breathing was becoming harsh and labored, sounding similar to hers during her panic attack not five minutes ago.

"You're nervous," she realized. With realization came fear. How cruel could this Yubaba possibly be if she could make Daisuke of all people react this way?

Daisuke scoffed, though the notion couldn't completely extinguish the dread in his eyes. "I'm not."

"You don't have to lie to me," Chihiro said, feeling a bit guilty. She'd been so self-absorbed in her own predicament that she didn't realize how risky this trip was for Daisuke. "You're sweating and breathing heavily."

"Only because you're heavy."

"I hope you know that if we weren't floating in the air right now, your head would be in two."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved off her threat like he would a fly.

Without further ado, he steeled himself and kicked at the window, the panes sliding effortlessly open.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered before gliding through.

They found themselves in a dimly lit room, the primary source of light coming from a nearby fireplace. The room itself reminded Chihiro of the bathhouse's exterior in the sense that it was almost completely red; the walls, the carpet, the furniture. Despite the prominent color choice, the room gave off the impression of luxury. Glass figures and vases lined the border of the room, each one seeming more expensive than the last. Bookshelves were placed in the corners, their shelves filled to the brim.

Three green, pillow-like objects sat in front of the fireplace, seeming very out of place from the rest of the room. But when these pillows turned around, Chihiro almost screamed. They were _heads. _

"D-Daisuke," she stammered. "L-look -"

"Get behind me." He pushed her behind him, but it wasn't the heads he was focused on.

Chihiro followed his line of vision. What she saw had her jaw dropping to the floor.

There, sitting at an enormous desk, was an enormous woman. The proportions of her body were about ten times greater than those of an average human being. Her head in particular was inhumanely large, nearly the size of her own torso. The woman's curved nose appeared to be the length of Chihiro's arm, and her gray-gold hair was voluminous and geisha-styled. She appeared to be about eighty years of age, deep wrinkles severely etched into her face. Even so, she wore heavy purple makeup on her eyelids. Between her eyes sat a gigantic wart, roughly the size of a softball.

A multitude of jeweled rings decorated her fingers, and two yellow studs adorned her ears. In contrast with the flashy jewels, the blue dress the woman wore was very plain.

The woman sat in her chair, busily writing onto some documents with a quilled feather. She didn't seem too concerned about her guests' sudden appearance, and Chihiro doubted she even knew they were there until she spoke.

"I hope you've come here to pay me for the food you stole, Daisuke."

Daisuke bristled at the sound of her voice. Still, he tried to put his usual confidence into his response.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Yubaba, but I have no intention of paying you for something that should have belonged to me in the first place."

_That woman is Yubaba? _

When Daisuke said Yubaba was a witch, Chihiro had pictured a green-skinned, broom-riding Halloween creature. She couldn't have been any more wrong.

"You honestly think that food was yours to take?" Yubaba let out a hoarse laugh. "You're a spirit, not a god."

"What I am doesn't really matter. My strength is far more skilled than those fools you call customers." Despite his prior cowardice upon seeing the witch, Daisuke was back to his usual condescending self.

Chihiro lightly tugged on the back of his shirt in a silent warning. The last thing she wanted was for his horrible personality to blow her only chance of recovering her memories.

Luckily, Yubaba didn't seem too fazed by the insult. "You're as cocky as always."

"Some like to call it confidence."

Yubaba leaned forward in her desk, folding her hands in front of her. "You're not here to pay me." It wasn't a question.

Daisuke snorted. "Of course not."

"Then why are you here?"

"I need your help with something," he said, throwing a quick glance to Chihiro, who still stood behind him.

"You can't be serious," Yubaba scoffed. "You're lucky I didn't turn you into a pig right when you flew through my window. You're the one who owes me."

"It's always about money with you," Daisuke grumbled.

"It's not the money I'm concerned about. It's the welfare of my business. And because of you, food was stolen and buildings were destroyed. Our monthly income has been reduced by half for the repairs."

"Well, how can I make it up to you?" he asked. Chihiro could tell by his clipped tone that he was just trying to appease the witch, and that he wasn't actually going to make it up to her.

"You're still poor," Yubaba said, not even having to guess Daisuke's financial status. "You could work here, you know. Just until your debt has been paid. That, or you give up your soul to me."

Daisuke didn't answer. While Chihiro guessed he was trying to figure a way out of the situation, Yubaba interpreted his silence as submission.

She leaned back in her chair, silently appraising the incubus. "Now we can talk about your situation."

"Excellent," Daisuke said, eager to be off the topic of him joining the workplace. "It seems that a friend of mine has found herself in a bit of a predicament."

Yubaba ignored the jab. "Does this have anything to do with the human you've been hiding behind your back?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe."

"What's the matter with her?"

"She's lost some of her memories and requires your power to retrieve them."

"Forget it." Yubaba went back to her papers.

"You don't even know the full story!"

"I don't need to. Helping a spirit who thieves is one thing, but helping a human who thieves is entirely different."

"Human who thieves?" Daisuke repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me. I know that human stole some food just like you. If not, how else would she still be standing there?"

"I thought so as much..." Daisuke murmured to himself, deep in thought.

"What?" Chihiro finally spoke up. "Daisuke, what is she talking about?"

Ignoring her questions, Daisuke reached behind him to grab her around the wrist. He pulled her out in front of him, in direct line of Yubaba's vision.

"This," he said, holding out Chihiro's arm with the hair tie attached, "is what's preventing the girl from disappearing."

Chihiro gasped. "Am I _supposed_ to disappear?"

Daisuke ran a hand through his hair. "Technically, yeah. As a human who just crossed over, you're supposed to eat something from this world to prevent yourself from spiriting away."

"Then why didn't we find something for me to eat?" Chihiro demanded, whipping her arm out of his grasp. "Do you _want _me to disappear?"

Daisuke held up his hands. "Of course not! You were never in any real danger – if I saw you disappearing, I would have gone and fetched something to save you. I just wanted to see the extent of that hair tie's power, and I must say, I'm very impressed. You don't even need to eat anything." He turned back to Yubaba. "You see how powerful this is? You're not the one who crafted it for her, are you?"

But instead of looking at the hair tie, Yubaba was staring straight at Chihiro.

Chihiro cowered against Daisuke, not liking the way the witch was looking at her. Yubaba's eyes blinked in what appeared to be a mixture of shock and disbelief. It was kind of weird seeing the witch's expression as anything other than hostile.

Chihiro gasped as Yubaba suddenly appeared in front of her. She grabbed Chihiro by the shoulder, her nails digging into her flesh like claws.

"What are you -?" Chihiro asked as the witch's unnaturally long nose ran along the length of her arm. Was Yubaba _smelling _her?

Daisuke stood by, tense but ready to jump in and pull the women apart if the situation called for it. But after just a few more seconds, Yubaba pulled back to look Chihiro in the eye.

"It's you," Yubaba said, her eyes narrowing in recognition. "It's definitely you."

Chihiro blinked back at her, uncomprehending.

"Tell me, Sen," the witch continued, "what have you done to deserve getting your memories taken away?"

Chihiro looked around her, wondering if anybody by the name of "Sen" had suddenly appeared. Surely Yubaba wasn't referring to her.

"That's enough, Yubaba." Daisuke wedged himself between the witch and the girl. "I already told you – Chihiro doesn't remember a thing. Though I am surprised to learn that you two have a history together."

Yubaba snorted. "Hardly." She walked back to her desk and plopped into the chair. "But this situation is certainly something else." She looked at Chihiro. "I didn't think I'd ever see your face again."

"Are you sure you don't have me confused with someone else?" Chihiro tentatively asked. "Because you called me Sen, but my name is Chihiro."

Yubaba gazed at her with an unreadable expression. "You really don't remember anything?"

"Well," she started, "I remember everything about my life in my own world. But nothing about the time I spent in this one."

"Interesting," the witch mused. "I've never seen a case of amnesia like this."

"Then can you help?" Chihiro asked, unable to mask the hope in her voice. "Unlock my memories, that is?"

"What, do you think the little history between us makes us friends?" Yubaba sneered. "Don't be ridiculous. My magic isn't free. If you want my help, you're going to have to give me yours."

"Meaning...?" Chihiro prompted.

Yubaba leaned forward, gasping her fingers along the edge of the desk. "You'll work for me."

"Work?" Chihiro repeated. "In this bathhouse?"

"Where else?"

"But..."

"Of course, I'll be kind enough to provide you with appropriate living arrangements. _Again."_

"But that's exactly the problem. I need to get home and let my parents know I'm okay. I can't do that if I'm temporarily living in another world, even if only for a day or two."

"You think my help is worth the price of a day or two?" Yubaba asked disbelievingly. "Don't make me laugh, girl. You'll be working here for at least a month."

"A month!" Chihiro exclaimed. "I can't work here for a whole month! I live in a completely different world! I have three exams next week!"

"Quit complaining! A month is nothing."

"I have to agree with Chihiro on this," Daisuke said. "I don't think her working here is such a great idea. She has a life and family of her own."

"What are you complaining about, boy?" Yubaba asked. "If your human friend here works to earn my help, she'll also be paying off your debt. Killing two birds with one stone."

"Don't be ridiculous," Chihiro said. "Me working to pay off another man's debt is completely unfair. Right, Daisuke?"

But Daisuke looked like a man who had just escaped the hands of death. "You heard the woman, Chihiro. Do your best!"

"You...!"

"Relax, Sen." Yubaba pulled out a document from her drawers. "You didn't complain nearly as much the last time you worked for me."

"I've worked here before?" Chihiro asked. It seemed the more information she uncovered about her past, the more confused she became. This witch had once been her employer?

"Yes, Sen. You have. That's how we know each other." Yubaba was clearly growing impatient. "Let me ask you something. How much time do you think you've previously spent in this world?"

"Um..." Chihiro thought back to the conversation with her mother, when she first found out that she'd been to the park before. Yuko said that the car had been covered in dust, as if the family had been gone for... "A few days?"

"It was a little more than just a few days. You worked for a week."

"You made a ten-year-old girl work in a bathhouse for a week?"

Yubaba nodded, managing to look both annoyed and amused at Chihiro's lack of remembrance. "Minimum wage."

"Even if it's been seven years since my last shift, I'm still young," Chihiro pointed out. "I still live with my parents and everything. They'll know once I don't come home tonight that something's wrong."

"Then how unfortunate for you," was all Yubaba said.

Chihiro couldn't believe what she was hearing. It seemed the only choice she had was to work at a job she didn't even want. And despite the connection she supposedly shared with Yubaba, it didn't seem like she was particularly favored around here. What had she done to the the witch to make her so full of loathing?

She crossed her arms in opposition. She wasn't so helpless as her ten-year-old counterpart, and she would not be forced to do anything she didn't want to do.

"What if I refuse to work?"

Yubaba raised an eyebrow at the girl's challenging stance. "Then you won't get your memories back."

All traces of her short-lived defiance were sapped away with those seven words.

She bit her lip, weighing what limited options she did have.

Daisuke did say before that they could always find another solution, but after listening to Yubaba's complaints about her deteriorating financial credibility, it didn't sound like he would be allowed to leave. Yet Chihiro needed him with her if she wanted the luxury of even _trying_ to find another solution; she'd never be able to navigate her way through the Spirit Realm alone.

But Chihiro could be the one to work. Yubaba said she'd be able to help if such was the case.

Why go find another powerful spirit when a perfectly capable one was right here?

Furthermore, Chihiro wanted, _needed, _to know more about those green eyes. They were the reason why she was even speaking to the witch. And now, they were the reason why she was even thinking about working in said witch's bathhouse. Was deliberately going missing from her home for a month worth the price of remembering?

Yes, it was. That didn't mean she had to like it.

She rounded on Daisuke. "I asked you to get me my memories back, not get me a _job!"_

Daisuke held his hands up in apology. "I know, and I feel really bad for going back to your world without you."

"You mean... you aren't staying?" Chihiro realized with a small degree of dread. He was the only spirit she _did _know for certain, and he was leaving her. She thought he'd at least stick around in the Spirit Realm for a while.

"I have to help you out in any way I can, right?"

Before Chihiro could ask him what he meant or convince him to stay, a bright light surrounded the incubus. It completely engulfed him in its brilliance, forcing Chihiro to shield her eyes. Surprisingly, it faded quickly, allowing Chihiro to look up and see what had happened.

What she saw in Daisuke's place was... her.

It was like looking into a mirror. There was an exact replica of Chihiro standing directly in front of her. She wore the same white sweater, dark-wash jeans, and boots. The only difference between this Chihiro and the real one was that only the real one was still soaking wet from her previous ocean plunge.

"Impressive, isn't it?" the replica asked in her voice. "Nobody will know the difference."

"Daisuke?" Even in her voice, Chihiro recognized the cocky intonation.

The replica nodded. "That's me."

"Please don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing," Chihiro warned.

"Why not?" Daisuke asked. "This way, neither your friends or your family will worry about you."

"They'll know something isn't right. Our personalities are very, _very _different."

"If I could charm your parents into liking me, then I'm sure I'll be able to fool everybody into thinking I'm you for a month."

"No way. My friend is the most intelligent life-form to have ever existed. She'll be able to see right through you."

But it was too late. Still in Chihiro-form, Daisuke whipped out his bat wings and went to climb out the window they had entered in.

"Don't worry," he said, throwing her a reassuring grin. "I'll be back soon." With that, he took off into the sky.

Chihiro could only watch after him in silence.

Meanwhile, Yubaba was busy talking into a skull on her desk. "I need you to come up here. It's an emergency."

"Why? What's happened?" the skull replied.

"It seems that our girl has returned."

* * *

**A/N So Chihiro's finally made it back to the Spirit World, though it doesn't sound like she's too keen on staying. But (spoiler alert) she will finally meet up with the owner of those pesky green eyes in the next chapter, so stay posted, and please review!**

**Update: I've already started the next chapter. That's what happens when you choose not to write your english essay instead. With any luck, chapter six will be out a lot sooner than expected.**


	6. Green Eyes

**A/N Sorry that this update took longer than expected. This chapter is also a little shorter than the more recent ones. Still, I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

"Yubaba, what on earth is a human doing here?" the man asked. "Shouldn't you have disposed of her?"

He was a bit on the bigger side, the proportions of his body width nearly twice the size of the average human's. While his size wasn't as impressive as Yubaba's, Chihiro stood a few inches taller than him as he looked her over.

Even his facial features were significantly wide. His large but mostly-flat nose sat in the center of his face, and his orange mustache grew over an equally large mouth. He had matching orange eyes that were spread so far apart, they almost touched his temples.

Chihiro thought the guy looked like a frog.

"You know how bad this will be for our business if the customers get a whiff of her," the man continued, speaking as if Chihiro wasn't standing directly in front of him. "We've already lost a great deal from that incubus, and we can't afford to lose any more!"

Chihiro discreetly turned her head to the side to sniff her shoulder. Sure, she was still soaking wet in seawater, but she didn't smell that bad, did she?

"Never mind that, Chichiyaku," Yubaba said. She pointed at Chihiro. "I want you to guess who this is."

Chichiyaku turned to the witch. "Huh?"

"I want you to guess who this is," she repeated, her voice darkened by the strictness of a command. "You already know the answer."

Chichiyaku turned back to Chihiro. He wore the same face she did whenever she was met with a pop-quiz in school.

She fought the urge to punch him flat in the face as he looked her over from head to toe. She was quickly learning that in this world, humans were treated more like furniture than actual living creatures.

"I... I don't know," Chichiyaku stammered.

"How about now?" Yubaba asked. She flicked her wrist in the girl's direction.

Chihiro gasped as her long hair suddenly pulled back into a ponytail.

"Ow!" She grabbed her head before she understood what was happening, trying to undo her hair, which felt like it was being held up by an invisible string. She hadn't sported a ponytail since she was ten-years old, and she wasn't about to revive the style now. She'd always thought she looked stupid with it.

Chichiyaku gasped, seeming to have a lightbulb moment upon seeing Chihiro's new hairstyle. Satisfied, Yubaba let go of her hold on the girl's hair, letting it fall back down over her shoulders.

Without regards to Chihiro's personal space, Chichiyaku leaned his head in and delicately sniffed her arm.

Chihiro grimaced. This was the second time today that a spirit decided to _smell _her, and she wasn't loving it all that much.

"No way." Chichiyaku backed up, eyes opened wide in shock. He quickly looked at Yubaba, who nodded at his expression. He looked back at Chihiro. "Sen?"

So it looked like she had a past with this guy. She almost felt bad for not remembering him. Unlike Yubaba, he actually looked happy to see her.

"Um..." She didn't know what to say.

"Sen! It _is _you!" he exclaimed, breaking out into a broad smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I -"

"You've grown so much! I didn't even recognize you. You look like such a woman now!" His prior indifference to Chihiro's very existence was now completely gone.

"Wait just a minute..."

"Yubaba, we must tell everybody else - they'll be so excited! Sen has returned to us!" He clapped his hands together in celebration.

This was getting awkward.

"C-can I ask you something?" She raised her hand feebly in the air like she would in a classroom setting.

Chichiyaku nodded enthusiastically. "Of course."

Chihiro took a deep breath, figuring she'd go ahead and ask the inevitable. "Please don't take offense, but... who are you?"

The silence that followed was even more awkward.

Instead of answering the question, Chichiyaku looked at Yubaba for clarification.

"She's lost her memories," Yubaba explained. To Chihiro's surprise, she didn't appear to be amused by the discomfort in the room. Both her tone and expression were strangely neutral. "She's come back to work in exchange for my help."

"How did this happen?" Chichiyaku asked, his excitement deflating like a popped tire. "How did Sen lose her memories?"

"Who knows."

"Why does everyone keeping calling me Sen?" Chihiro asked. "My name is Chihiro. Chi-hi-ro."

"You're annoying. I liked you better when you were smaller," Yubaba shot back. "But you reminded me... here."

Chihiro watched in fascination as a piece of paper floated towards her like a magic carpet. She swiftly caught it.

"That's your working contract," Yubaba said as she levitated a pen forward. "It expires after a month. Just sign your first name on the bottom."

Chihiro did as she was told, trying to ignore the three green heads that had surrounded her. The pen and paper were ripped from her hands and drawn back to Yubaba.

"Good." Yubaba looked over the document. "From now on, your name is Sen."

Chihiro said nothing, confused by the sudden name change.

"Understand, Sen?"

"Okay," she said reluctantly, figuring that her ten-year-old self's name was changed to Sen, too. It certainly explained why both the witch and the frog-guy kept calling her that.

But why did she have to change her name in the first place?

"You start work first thing tomorrow morning." Yubaba slid off her chair to walk to the door adjacent to her desk. Chihiro wondered vaguely what was inside. "Chichiyaku, show her around."

"Yes ma'am." He gestured for Chihiro to follow him.

The pair left the office and walked silently down a long and ornate hallway.

"So... you never answered my question," she said, trying to break the silence.

"Which was?"

"Who are you?" As bad as she felt for repeating it, she sincerely wanted to know.

"I'm Chichiyaku, the head manager here at Yubaba's bathhouse," he replied. "I've known you since you were a child."

"I see... Sorry for not remembering you."

Chichiyaku waved off her apology. "It's fine, it's fine. Whether you remember anything or not, everybody will be very excited to see you again."

She didn't like the sound of that. "How many people here know who I am?"

"All five hundred and twenty-two of us," he said proudly. "I can't wait to re-introduce you to everyone."

"Can't wait," Chihiro muttered, her voice heavy with sarcasm. Her "reunion" with Chichiyaku was awkward enough.

It didn't matter that all five hundred twenty-two workers knew who she was. As far as she was concerned, they were all strangers.

Added to that was the fact that she wouldn't be able to see her friends and family, the people she _did _know, for a whole month. She'd never been away from home for this long. She wanted to mourn this separation, but the suddenness of it all just left her in a numbing kind of shock.

Furthermore, she didn't even want to think about all the schoolwork she'd need to catch up on.

"Don't worry," Chichiyaku assured, taking note of her disgruntled expression. "I'll let everyone know about your, er, condition."

So her memory loss was being treated like a disease? Now, that was just the icing on the already crappy cake.

Still, she said, "Thanks."

* * *

"These are the women's quarters," Chichiyaku said, gesturing around the big, open room. "The mats and blankets are in the cabinets over there."

Chihiro nodded, eagerly absorbing any new information that was thrown her way. If she was going to be living here for a month, she wanted to do it with as little complications as possible.

Luckily, nobody had run into her during the elevator ride to the third floor. Chichiyaku had yet to tell everyone about her "condition."

"Why don't you wait here for the time being?" he suggested. "There's some spare uniforms in the cabinets over here. I suggest you change into one."

"Alright," Chihiro said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She wanted to ask for the luxury of a hot shower, but didn't want to sound like she was imposing on her gracious host's resources.

"I'll leave you to it." With that, Chichiyaku walked out and shut the door behind him.

She walked to the far wall and opened the cabinets. Inside were rows of pink shirts and trousers, which she guessed were the uniforms. There were no size labels, so she dug through the fabric until she found ones that appeared to be her size.

She quickly peeled off her soggy shoes, jeans, and sweater, throwing anxious glances at the door. The last thing she wanted was for one of her forgotten "pals" to waltz in on her half-naked body.

Luckily, she was able to dress without conflict. She gathered her discarded clothing into a heap on the floor, figuring she'd toss them for good. Her sweater and jeans were dry-clean only, and it was probably too late to save them.

She dug her phone out of the pocket of her jeans. Maybe she could ask Chichiyaku if there was a pound of rice lying around somewhere so she could try to soak up the moisture.

"That uniform really suits you."

Chihiro quickly spun around. She hadn't heard anybody come in.

If she hadn't known any better, she'd say the woman standing before her was human.

She appeared to be in her early twenties, with dark brown eyes and hair. Her face was slim and her lips were full. Unlike Yubaba and Chichiyaku, this woman had body proportions that would be considered normal in the human world. She was wearing a pink uniform with a blue apron tied around her waist.

"Uh, thanks," Chihiro muttered, not knowing what else to say. She guessed that this woman knew who she was since according to Chichiyaku, _everybody _knew who she was. The real question, though, was whether this woman knew about Chihiro's "condition."

"You're still missing something," the woman said, looking over Chihiro's uniform. She walked over to the cabinets and pulled out a blue apron that was identical to her own. "Here. This job can get pretty filthy."

"Thanks," Chihiro said, tying the apron around her waist.

The woman continued to study Chihiro, her arms folded in concentration.

"Hmm..."

"What is it?" Chihiro asked, beginning to feel very, very uncomfortable.

"Ah, this is so weird."

"What, does this not look right?" She looked herself over, hoping she wasn't wearing her uniform backwards.

The woman shook her head. "It looks fine. It's just... you really have no idea who I am."

At least Chihiro wouldn't have to make another painfully awkward introduction. Still, how did this woman already know about her amnesia?

"Chichiyaku just told me," the woman said, reading the girl's questioning stare. "Though, I didn't believe him when he said you'd lost your memories. Hell, I didn't even believe him when he said you'd returned. You'd gone through so much last time to get back home, I never thought you'd ever come back."

In all fairness, it's not like Chihiro wanted to come back. She only wanted her memories. Working in a bathhouse for a month while meeting forgotten co-workers had never been on the agenda.

"Yet here you are standing right in front of me, and you're completely out of it," the woman continued. She chuckled and shook her head. "Geez, what kinds of trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"I'd like to know that myself," Chihiro said coyly. The confidence and wittiness this woman's aura exerted reminded her of Kagura, and she couldn't help but feel at ease.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it's you, everything will work out in the end."

Chihiro smiled appreciatively. "Thanks."

The woman scratched her head. "I'm guessing you don't know my name."

Chihiro blushed in embarrassment. She didn't want to hurt this woman's feelings, but it didn't look like she had much of a choice. "I, uh... I don't really -"

"It can't be helped. Though it feels strange to be re-introducing myself to you." She held out her hand. "I'm Lin."

"Lin..." Chihiro repeated, testing the name on her tongue. It didn't ring a bell. Still, she grasped Lin's hand in her own and nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm-"

"I already know who you are, Sen."

"Oh, right."

"Still a klutz, I see."

Chihiro ignored the light-hearted jab. "Since you know about my memory loss, does this mean everyone else knows, too?"

Lin shook her head. "No, I'm the only one Chichiyaku's told so far. He wanted me to be the first to know."

"Is that so?"

"Of course. You and I – we were pretty close. I was the first yuna you met, and you were kind of my underling for a while."

"I see..." Hopefully, Lin would once again take the human under her wing. In that way, Chihiro wouldn't be at a complete loss with her newfound job.

"I can't believe how much you humans can change in just seven years," Lin mused, looking over the girl. "When we first met, you were only this tall." She leveled a palm at her hip.

"I was only, what? Ten years old at the time?" Chihiro asked. "Speaking of which, I can't believe I worked my first job at that age." She hadn't even applied for a part-time job yet as a high schooler.

"I can't believe you're working now," Lin said. "Yubaba's really making you work for your memories, huh?"

"Yeah."

"The selfish witch. I'm sure she'd be able to just _give _you them back, but to her, money is more important than old friends."

"I wouldn't say we're old friends," Chihiro said, recalling the witch's display of rudeness.

"Whether she admits it or not, Yubaba is grateful for what you did last time." Lin paused. "Not that you remember."

"You'll definitely have to catch me up on everything that's happened in the past. I don't want to remain completely in the dark."

"Sure thing."

"Also... is there any place where I can wash off?" While she hadn't asked Chichiyaku for such a thing, she felt much more comfortable asking Lin. "On the way here, I sort of fell into the ocean, and I feel extremely gross right now."

Lin laughed. "I was wondering why you're dripping saltwater. Yeah, there are tons of places you can wash off in."

Chihiro straightened up. "Really?"

"Yes, really. This is a bathhouse, remember?"

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Chihiro said. "I led a spirit, who had eaten three people and was trying to kill me, out of the bathhouse and somewhere across the ocean?"

Lin nodded. "Yup."

"And I came back to free my parents from a curse Yubaba had cast on them?"

"Mm-hm."

Chihiro leaned back. "All of this sounds really weird. I'm actually having a hard time believing it. You're not just telling me random stories to mess with me, are you?"

Lin scoffed. "No, I'm not. This really happened."

"I can't believe I don't remember a thing."

"Not even this?" Lin gestured around her at the huge tub. "This is where you served your first customer."

Chihiro shook her head. "Sorry, I've got nothing."

They sat in what Lin called "The Big Bath." The hot, herb-infused water had been produced by a long pipe that ran from the first floor to the basement. According to Lin, an elderly man called Kamaji had provided the heat from his place in the Boiler Room. After the bathhouse had closed for the night, Lin had quickly run down to let the man know that his services were still needed. He'd agreed to work after-hours under the condition that Lin take Chihiro to see him tomorrow.

All the floors' lights were off, and the only sound that could be heard was the two girls' conversation. Even so, Chihiro couldn't help but look up around her every few seconds. All anyone had to do to see two naked women in a bath was look over the banister on any one of the floors.

"Quit worrying so much," Lin chastised, flicking water in the girl's direction.

"But still..."

"But nothing. Everyone's asleep. Besides, you're the one who wanted to take a bath in the first place."

"I didn't know the bath I'd be in would be in plain sight of every single floor."

"Like I said, everyone's asleep. We're fine. Just relax. You have a big day tomorrow."

She _did _have a big day tomorrow. Aside from Yubaba and Chichiyaku, the only people who knew of her return were Lin and Kamaji. The remaining number would be informed first thing tomorrow morning.

She sighed.

Lin turned her head. "Hm? What's wrong?"

"I'm still having a hard time coming to terms with all of this. Just twelve hours ago, I never would've guessed I'd be working in a bathhouse."

"It sucks, doesn't it?"

"I'll see how I feel after my first shift."

"Don't expect anybody to take it easy on you, even if it is your first day," Lin warned. "Despite your history with them, both owners will be breathing down your neck."

"Owners?" Chihiro repeated, noting the plural context. "You mean there's someone else other than Yubaba?"

This was surprising. The witch hardly seemed the type to share.

"She didn't tell you?"

Chihiro shook her head.

"I can't say I'm too surprised. She wants people to think she's the sole forerunner," Lin explained. "I think it makes her feel more entitled or something."

"Have there always been two owners?"

"No. It was only Yubaba up until three years ago. She's not too happy about the new partnership, though."

"I figured. So where's the other one now?"

"He's out on a business run. Or at least, I think he is. He doesn't really tell anyone when or where he goes." Lin breathed out a long sigh. "He's back to the way he was before you showed up the first time around."

"I wouldn't know," Chihiro said with a sigh of her own. She tapped her temple. "Amnesia, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"So what's my relationship with this guy?" she asked, figuring she'd find out her affiliation with Owner Number Two before she actually met him.

"Hmm..." Lin thought for a moment. "You two definitely have a history, but I'm not sure how meaningful it runs considering how he treated you in the beginning. He told the rest of us that we could fry and boil you if we thought you were useless."

She let that sink in. "I'm not sure I'm a fan of his."

"I wouldn't go there yet," Lin said. "After all, you voluntarily saved him from a curse Yubaba had planted inside of his body. From what I saw, he would have died without your help."

It was hard for Chihiro to picture herself doing any of the things Lin claimed for her to have done. It was like she was listening to a story about a heroine who didn't really exist.

"He warmed up considerably the longer you were here," Lin continued. "You asked me about him on more than one occasion, and I think you guys became good friends." She paused. "But I can't say any of this for sure. He was almost never here, and you tended to keep to yourself."

"Maybe I only became friends with him so he wouldn't kill me," Chihiro said with a shrug. "At least, it sounds like that to me."

Lin burst out laughing. "Oh, man! If only Haku could see what you're like now!"

The girl's ears perked up immediately. "What's his name?"

"Haku," Lin replied, still chuckling. "Just wait until he gets back. I myself can't even believe you're the same Sen, so there's no telling how the dragon-boy will react!"

"Haku..." Chihiro whispered, awestruck. She'd heard the name before. It felt like it had always been at the tip of her tongue and she'd just never been able to get it out.

This feeling of déjà vu was all too familiar_._

_She had to know..._

"So this Haku..." she began.

"Yes?" Lin said, her laughter finally dying down.

Chihiro blushed, though she wasn't sure why. "Are his... are his eyes green?"

Lin blinked in surprise, all traces of humor gone. She gazed at the girl, trying to read her expression. "Sen..."

"Ah, that was a stupid thing to ask," Chihiro said, quickly backtracking. Just because she'd heard the name before didn't mean this person had anything to do with the eyes she'd seen in her dreams. She ran a hand through her hair self-consciously. "I mean, how would I possibly know what color his eyes are when I can't even remember the time he told a bunch of people they could kill me? I think my mind's more messed up than we thought."

"Yeah, they're green.

Chihiro froze. "What?"

"You're right. His eyes are green," Lin said slowly.

Chihiro looked down, pulling in a ragged breath. "I see."

She couldn't believe she was solving the origins of the green eyes on her very first night in the Spirit Realm. No, she couldn't believe she was solving the origins of the green eyes, period. They'd been such a profound mystery in her mind for so long, a part of her thought she would never find out whose they were. Yet right here, right now, she was.

He has green eyes.

He has a lovely voice.

His name is Haku.

She juggled this information over in her mind, trying to conjure up an image of the guy. Her mind, however, drew up blank. There wasn't enough information. She didn't even know if he was a friend or foe. Clearly, the mystery wasn't completely solved.

"Sen," Lin said, snapping the girl back into focus. "How did you know that? I thought all your memories were gone."

"They _are _gone."

"But there's no way that was just a lucky guess. What gives?"

Chihiro took a deep breath, about to reveal to a woman she'd just met – well, re-met – something she was unable to tell Daisuke.

"I don't know why, but ever since I came to this park a few days ago, these eyes just popped into my mind like that." She snapped her fingers for emphasis. "I used to have dreams about them, but I'd somehow forgotten about all that until recently. I don't know how or why, but I just knew they were connected to the park. And now, you confirmed that I was right."

Lin rested her head against the side of the tub. A small, bittersweet smile played at her lips. "Maybe he'll cheer up knowing he's the one thing you couldn't forget."

"When does he get back?" Chihiro asked, trying not to sound too eager.

Lin shrugged. "Like I said, he doesn't like to share his traveling plans with anybody. Depending on what he's doing, he might be back tomorrow, or he might be back in two weeks."

She felt her shoulders slump in disappointment. "Oh."

"What's with that?" Lin teased. "I thought you said you weren't a fan of his."

"I thought _you _said him and I were good friends."

"I said I only _thought _that. Are you sure you don't have short-term memory loss instead of amnesia?"

Chihiro grinned. "Either way, I don't have my memories."

Lin smiled back before sighing. "Yeah."

* * *

Chihiro woke up feeling strangely energized even though she still had a few more hours to sleep. She sat up in her makeshift futon, looking around the room. The thirty-or-so yuna whom she shared the space with were all fast asleep.

She and Lin had snuck back into the room after getting dressed and draining the tub. They'd made sure to be extra quiet as they tip-toed over the bodies of their co-workers and over to the far wall where their beds were.

Just as quiet, Chihiro got to her feet and headed for the door. She knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. This was the perfect time to explore.

She shut the door slowly and quietly. Then, she made her way through the hallway and down the stairs leading to the first floor.

It was as abandoned as it had been during her and Lin's midnight dip. Her bare feet padded against the waxed wooden floors as she walked toward the main entrance.

As expected, the grand doors were closed. She gingerly pressed on one and to her surprise, it opened easily. After a quick glance to make sure no one was following her, she quietly slipped out the door.

She immediately huddled into herself for warmth, wrapping her borrowed robe tighter around her. The heating inside the building was so nice, she'd forgotten just how cold it was outside. The icy breeze whipped her hair around her face and turned her breath into steam. Only her legs were completely exposed, so it wasn't like she'd never endured this kind of weather without appropriate clothing; she had to walk several blocks to school every morning in a skirt.

She started for the bridge, becoming more used to the frigid air with every step. She paused in the middle of the bridge and rested her arms against the railing. Her gaze swept across the horizon, taking in the scene.

The sun was still in the process of rising, casting a light, yellow glow across the waters of the ocean. Above, wispy formations of cirrus clouds were strewn lazily across the sky. A light breeze combed through her hair, and she closed her eyes in contentment.

Maybe staying here for a month wouldn't be so bad.

"Chihiro."

Her eyes snapped wide open. She hadn't heard anyone approach.

She turned around so quickly that her hair flew into her eyes. She hastily brushed it away and looked up.

There, staring back at her, was pair of green eyes.

* * *

**A/N Depending on how well people like this chapter, I may post an unedited sneak preview to the next one. And I apologize that this chapter jumps scenes so much and so quickly. **

**I sincerely thank those of you who have been reviewing this story. Just when I think I shouldn't continue it, you guys let me know that you do enjoy it. So once again, thank you!**


	7. Sea of Red and Noise

**A/N I can't believe it's almost been a year since I've last updated. Forgive me, but it's extremely difficult to find the time to write when you're juggling school and two jobs. Still, I hope you find this chapter enjoyable.**

* * *

Chihiro didn't know what her expectations had been before she'd turned around, but the man standing before her certainly hadn't been one of them.

He stood only a few feet away, and while the more rational part of her mind wondered how he had gotten there without her hearing him, the bigger, teenage-girlish part was soaking in every inch of his appearance. He was probably the most physically attractive guy Chihiro had ever laid eyes on, and she suddenly became very self-conscious of her borrowed robe blowing around her bare thighs.

He was more than a full head taller than her, maybe just a little taller than Daisuke. His hair was the strangest shade of black, green, and blue, and while Daisuke's hair color was of an intense kind you'd find in a cheap hair dye, this stranger's managed to appear natural. It was tied loosely together with a piece of twine and cascaded over his shoulder, falling just past his chest. Stray strands of hair fringed either side of his face, and he leisurely brushed them out of his eyes as the wind continued to blow.

He wore a traditional black kimono with a neckline that dropped down to the top of his chest, revealing impressively hard muscle and sharp collarbones.

It was only until her eyes met his that she was struck with a jolt of recognition. It was strange to see something that had previously been solely in her mind now staring right at her in real life. She wondered if this was how book authors felt when their stories were adapted into films.

She couldn't believe she was capable of forgetting such a beautiful man, whom she knew at this point was most likely Haku.

An immediate thought was that he looked different, which struck her as odd. How could somebody look different when she couldn't remember anything about him, save for his eyes?

While she continued to stare at him like an idiot, he spoke.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was deeper than it'd been in her mind.

"I –" She swallowed to clear her suddenly hoarse voice. "I couldn't sleep, so I came outside for a bit…"

"No," he said, shaking his head and taking a step toward her. "What are you _doing _here?"

She involuntarily took a step back. "W-what?"

His eyes stayed fixed on hers, hard and unwavering. "How did you get back here?"

Then she understood. His question held more depth than she'd originally thought. He wasn't asking why she was standing outside on the bridge; he was asking why she was even in the Spirit World at all.

She suddenly felt uneasy. His eyes that had looked so familiar suddenly looked very different. There was a prominent degree of hardness in them that she hadn't realized was there before.

Was this guy really Haku?

"Are you Haku?" she outright asked, ignoring the fact that she'd never answered his question.

For the briefest of moments, he widened his eyes in what appeared to be surprise before recomposing his features back into a cool but disinterested expression.

"So she really was telling the truth…" he muttered to himself, distantly looking off into the sea.

It was then that Chihiro realized he was balancing a kiseru pipe upon an upturned palm. Wordlessly, he brought the kiseru to his mouth, inhaled deeply, and blew out a slow stream of smoke.

"Are you Haku?" she asked again, becoming more and more convinced that this guy was somebody else altogether. If what Lin had told her the night before was correct, then she'd expect someone whose life she'd saved to act a bit more gracious. She also hadn't expected her mystery guy to be much of a smoker, but that was beside the point.

Again he didn't answer, and he either didn't hear her or was ignoring her. Chihiro guessed the latter option, since his eyes flicked back to hers at the sound of her voice before turning back to stare broodingly across the ocean.

This conversation was going absolutely nowhere. They had yet to fully answer the other's questions.

Was every conversation she had in the Spirit World destined to become painfully awkward?

"Yes," he finally said, pulled back from wherever his mind had taken him.

Chihiro jumped, thinking he had somehow read her mind. "What?"

He pulled in another breath from the pipe. "Yes, I'm Haku."

"Oh."

Silence.

Well, this little trip was turning out to be quite the anticlimactic one. She'd left not just her home, not just her family, but her entire _world _just to find this guy. Now that she did, he didn't seem to care all that much that she was here. If anything, he seemed a little angry. Sure, she hadn't expected their reunion to be full of embraces and sunsets, but even a little more enthusiasm from the other party would have been greatly appreciated. What had she done to him in the past to make him act so indifferent towards her? Had she spit in his food or something?

Maybe she really did try to become friends with him in the past just so he wouldn't kill her.

"You don't…" he began, "You really don't remember anything?" His voice sounded a bit more on the tender side, more like the voice she'd heard in her head. "Nothing at all?"

"Um…" The sound of his voice, stripped of its prior brittleness, caught her off guard. Everything about him up until this moment seemed so rigid, like he didn't at all like her and was afraid that showing her any kindness would result in her mistakenly thinking that they were BFFs for life.

And yet, here stood the same man, who was actually asking her if she remembered anything in what appeared to be a sign of concern.

How was she supposed to communicate with any male spirits when so far, the ones she had met seemed to have a serious case of bipolar disorder?

Haku shifted his weight to one leg in what she interpreted as discomfort.

Oh, right. He was waiting for her to answer him, and here she was reveling in his suddenly gentle voice and wondering whether or not his rigidness could be turned on and off like a light switch.

"Um…" she stupidly said again, recalling his question.

She debated whether or not she should say that she at least remembered him. Or rather, _parts _of him.

"Chihiro?" he prompted.

Her brows furrowed together in confusion. Huh. Chihiro? He'd called her that before when he'd first arrived on the bridge. She wondered why –

Remembrance hit her like a train.

"Chihiro!" she exclaimed. "That's my name!"

How could she have forgotten her own name? Sure, the witch had supposedly renamed her Sen, but she didn't think that she could actually forget the name she'd used for seventeen years, the name that her own flesh-and-blood-related parents had bestowed upon her. She didn't even like the name Sen all that much. She may have been Sen when she'd first entered this place, but without her memories, there was no Sen. As far as she was concerned, her name was and always had been Chihiro, and she'd somehow managed to forget that.

What was this place doing to her mind?

She realized a moment too late that her little outburst probably made her look like a complete imbecile. She sheepishly turned back to her audience. "Er, sorry about that. I, uh…" How did one begin to explain that she had forgotten her own name?

Haku, however, didn't look perplexed or weirded out like Chihiro would have thought. No, he looked _angry, _his eyes darkening and his lip curling back over his teeth. She subconsciously took a step back from him. It looked like the temporary window of him sounding like a decent person was now closed.

"You signed her contract," he said, his voice sounding strangely calm considering the clear-as-day fury written all over his face. "You signed her contract and now you're essentially stuck here until it is fulfilled."

Chihiro could only nod her head once.

"That damn witch…" Haku closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

So far, Haku was showing great skill in the mood swing department, and was equally great at making vague comments to himself that could make a conversation incredibly awkward. Chihiro was torn between asking him what the hell he was smoking and running back into the building when his eyes snapped open and he redirected his attention back to her.

"Chihiro," he said, and the way he said her name now sounded vastly different from the gentle way he'd said it before. "How could you let yourself be tricked like that?"

"Tricked?" she repeated disbelievingly. "How am I being tricked? Yubaba said she'd give me my memories back if I work here for a month, and that's exactly what I plan on doing."

"She said _what?" _he practically growled, his fury rising to a boiling point.

"T-that she'll give my memories back," she repeated, trying to put more confidence in her voice but failing miserably. "If I work here for at least a month."

"Yubaba lacks both the skill and the capability to do something like that, Chihiro," Haku said. "You're wasting your time here."

"What are you talking about?"

Haku exhaled sharply, like he was being forced to explain something ridiculously obvious. "Yubaba is lying to you. She is not, nor has she ever been able, to retrieve lost memories. While I am unsure of what it is she's scheming, I can tell you that you are being used."

Somehow, despite their supposed history together, Chihiro didn't quite believe him. In fact, Chihiro found herself more inclined to believe Daisuke. Yes, the incubus was an arrogant jerk, but she'd take his cocky attitude over Haku's cold one any day. Daisuke had saved her from being pulverized by a hoard of shadows, and all Haku had done so far was rope her into an unwanted game of hot-and-cold.

Surely Daisuke wouldn't have brought her to Yubaba if he didn't fully believe that the witch could restore the girl's lost memories. It was Daisuke she trusted, not Haku.

"I'm not wasting my time here," Chihiro insisted. "Yubaba said she'd get my memories back after my time here is done, and I believe that."

Haku raised a brow at the girl's show of defiance. "Is that right?"

Chihiro gulped. "That's right."

"You say that even though you are without your initial memories," Haku said, his voice irritatingly confident. "Tell me, Chihiro. Are you aware of what Yubaba once did to your parents?"

"Yes," Chihiro said without a moment's hesitation. She had Lin to thank for catching her up on her forgotten past. "Yes, I know that Yubaba turned my parents into pigs. But she did return them back to their human forms safe and sound. And they aren't even here this time, so what can Yubaba possibly do? I have no reason to worry."

Haku clenched his jaw, noticeably irritated by something she'd said, but what else was new?

"Even though you were much too young to tell the first time, I would have liked to have thought you could mature into someone who can tell when she is being deceived," he said. "That witch is no good, and it's a bit disappointing to learn that even now as a young woman, you fail to see that."

Despite the fact that she'd awoken feeling energized and refreshed, Chihiro was exhausted.

At first, she'd been relieved and even a bit thrilled when she finally found Haku, the owner of those unforgettable green eyes. Now, she felt nothing but regret. She should never have come to this unfamiliar world looking for him since evidently, he hadn't wanted to be found.

She didn't even want her memories anymore. What good would they do her now if they included this guy? She'd been living quite happily without them, and ever since she embarked to find them, she'd felt nothing but fear, anger, and resentment.

To think she'd come all this way for nothing.

"Alright, you know what?" Chihiro said, wiping her hands against her robe. "I'm sorry for whatever I did to you in the past, but I'm definitely _not _sorry for whatever's making you mad today. I think we've both clarified more than a few times that I don't exactly remember anything, so excuse me for not using my past experiences to guide me through the present ones. And just so you know, I'm mature _as hell._"

He didn't look at all apologetic like she'd wanted, but he did appear to be a bit taken aback. Good enough for her.

She brushed past, half expecting him to stop her. Luckily, he didn't.

She didn't know _why _he was the one thing she couldn't forget from this place, nor did she even want to know. He was probably a jerk to her back then just as he was being a jerk to her now.

"Oh," she said, stopping with her back facing him. "I never answered your question. The one about whether or not I remembered anything."

She waited for him to say anything, but when he didn't, she continued.

"I can only remember one thing," she said, "and that one thing is you."

She continued walking back into the building, not stopping once to see if he was still standing there. She had to pry her way through the entrance, ungracefully pulling at the heavy doors just to squeeze herself inside.

The bathhouse was still empty, and now, its silence accentuated the pounding of her heart through her ears.

Who the hell did Haku think he was? He _knew _Chihiro didn't remember anything, so who was he to lecture her about decisions and maturity? It was totally unfair.

All she wanted to do now was go home.

And she would, she decided. Right now.

She wasn't exactly sure how she could get to Yubaba, but she did know that the witch was on the highest floor of the building. The elevator in the far-left corner of the floor caught her attention, and she speed-walked to it, anger fueling her every step.

There weren't any floor buttons like the elevators she was used to, but there was a lever. She pulled it all the way up, and the doors closed in front of her.

She tapped her heel, already planning on what she'd say to Yubaba. She'd simply say she didn't need her memories anymore and that she was quitting. That would show the witch that she no longer had any incentive to remain here. She was so done.

The doors opened, and she stepped out into an empty corridor. At the end stood a set of large, ornately decorated doors, and she knew Yubaba was somewhere behind them.

She was about to pull on one of the crystal-encrusted door handles when the golden doorknocker actually began to talk to her.

"I see you still lack the decency to knock," it said, twisting its metallic face in a grimace. "I guess manners really are too much to ask for from you humans."

Still angry, Chihiro wasn't even all that surprised by the talking object. In fact, it hardly registered as anything more than an annoyance at the moment.

"You want me to knock?" Chihiro asked. "Fine. Is this good enough for you?"

She grabbed the doorknocker into her fist and pounded it three times into the door as hard as she could. She had to admit it felt good to manifest her rage into action.

"OW!" the doorknocker hissed. "Such temper. You've become quite the violent one, haven't you?"

Chihiro ignored it. "Just let me see Yubaba."

The doorknocker threw one more scowl at her before the doors parted, revealing the same long hallway that Chichiyaku had led her out of just last night.

She walked through it only for a brief time before she realized that she had no idea where she was going. The hallway broke off into intersections every few steps, so she was essentially navigating through a maze in which she'd only passed through once.

"To your right," came a distant voice, echoing through the corridors and reminding Chihiro of school announcements made over the monitors.

"Yubaba?" Chihiro called, recognizing the bitter voice immediately. She looked around her, but there was no visible sign of the witch anywhere.

"Go to your right," the witch said again.

Chihiro continued to look around. "Where are you? And how can you see me?"

"Are you going to go to the right or am I going to have to forcibly move you?" Yubaba demanded, her impatience leaking through her voice as it continued to resonate throughout the halls.

"Alright, alright," Chihiro said under her breath as she started down the hallway to her right. Were all spirits so incredibly impatient?

The trip took only a few more minutes with Yubaba guiding Chihiro every bit of the way before the doors to the office came into view.

Ignoring the fact that the witch had just helped her find her way, Chihiro angrily pushed the doors aside and stomped through.

"I quit!" she declared as she went right up to Yubaba. "My memories… I don't want nor need them anymore. I'm done here. I quit."

Yubaba looked up from the documents on her desk. "You're quitting? Even though you haven't even worked a single hour yet?"

Chihiro nodded. "Yes."

In a gesture that only fueled the girl's anger, Yubaba threw her head back and broke out into laughter, her bird-beak nose bobbing up and down. She even slapped her knee a few times, and the few sheets of paper she'd been studying fell to the floor.

Chihiro clenched her jaw. "What?"

Yubaba looked back up, her eyes still dancing with amusement. "You can't quit, Sen. You signed a contract."

"My name is Chihiro," she snapped, "not Sen."

To Chihiro's satisfaction, Yubaba frowned.

"How did you remember your real name?" the witch asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"How can one forget her own name?" Chihiro countered, not wanting to admit that she actually _had _forgotten her own name until she was not-so-kindly reminded by that bastard Haku.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Yubaba asked. "He's the one who told you."

"Who?" Chihiro asked as innocently as she could, but she knew exactly whom the witch was referring to.

"Don't play dumb with me. Haku has always gone out of his way to make me angry, especially when it comes to you. What else did he tell you?"

"Haku's a jerk," Chihiro said before she could stop herself, and the witch snorted in response. "He apparently likes to make me angry, too."

"Is _that _why you want to quit?" Yubaba asked, a sense of mockery present in the question. "Because you had a fight with your boyfriend?"

"That guy wouldn't be my boyfriend even if he was the last mood-swing prone bastard on this planet," Chihiro snapped. "And I'll have you know that I am quitting because I've come to the realization that I was leading a very happy life _without_ my memories of this place. So, I'll not be requiring them anymore."

"That's cute," Yubaba said, "but you're still not quitting."

"And why not?"

"Because your little incubus friend has caused me a great deal of damage, and unless you can get him to work in your place, you're staying."

Chihiro wanted to rip her hair out of its roots. "That is completely unfair! I had nothing to do with the damages that he caused."

"Yes, but _you're _the one who chose to work here in his stead. You had the chance to walk away, and you chose not to take it."

Chihiro folded her arms. "So that's it? I really have to stay here for a whole month?"

"Gods, you're a slow learner."

"What if I just walk right out of here?" Chihiro challenged. "What could you do to possibly stop me?"

"Don't test me, girl," Yubaba warned. "I'm more powerful than you think, and it's a shame you don't remember that."

Chihiro rolled her eyes. Everyone kept using her forgotten memories as a weapon against her, and she was sick of it.

"Of course," the witch continued, "you're more than welcome to walk away, but until I say you're contract is fulfilled, you'll be unable to return to your world."

Chihiro searched her mind for any other way out of this, but found none. She hadn't the slightest idea how to navigate this world, nor did she even know where to start with getting back to her own. Overall, she knew nothing, and was at the complete mercy of her new employer.

She collapsed into a sitting position right on the floor.

"So I'm really stuck here?" she asked, still wrapping her head around the unfairness of her situation.

"Looks like it."

Chihiro groaned. "I'd rather not spend any time around that… around _Haku."_

Yubaba collected the fallen papers from her floor. "Join the club."

"Why was he so angry with me?" Chihiro wondered aloud.

Yubaba chuckled. "Your poor kids. I told him you'd returned without your memories, but as usual, he refused to believe me. He's wary of everything I say and do. It's annoying."

For once, Chihiro agreed with the witch on something. "Yeah, he _is _annoying."

"And of course," Yubaba said, stacking her papers into a neat pile, "I forgot to mention to him that you'd already agreed to work for me, but from what you've told me, I guess he's figured it out. About time."

Chihiro raised her eyebrows at that.

How did one owner casually forget to mention to the other owner that an amnesiac human was now working under their business? Did Yubaba purposely keep that information from Haku knowing that he'd get angry when he found out? That certainly explained why he didn't exactly seem to know about Chihiro's working situation. She couldn't help but wonder if Haku would still have gotten so angry with her had he heard from the witch beforehand about the contract.

Had Yubaba planned for them to fight?

"Yubaba," Chihiro began, curiosity forming the foundation of her words.

"What?"

"Are you really able to bring back my lost memories?" she asked, recalling everything that Haku had said about the witch.

"Of course I am," Yubaba said without skipping a beat. "What, do you think I'm lying? Like I said before, do not test me."

"Hmm," Chihiro hummed speculatively. Half of her wondered if Yubaba was lying to her while the other half wondered why she was suddenly taking Haku's accusations against the witch seriously. The last time she checked - which was approximately two minutes ago - she strongly disliked the guy and refused to believe a single word he said.

Just then, the human-shaped skull that had been sitting at the edge of Yubaba's desk began to ring like a phone. Yubaba picked it up and narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Now, if you're done here, go make yourself useful and get to work."

Chihiro stood up. "Yeah, yeah," she muttered.

She opened the office doors and left before she realized that she didn't know the way back. She stopped abruptly in her tracks and glanced back at the office, wondering if she could ask the witch for a map or something.

"How annoying," Yubaba's voice could be heard throughout the hallways once again.

As if an invisible hand had gripped the front of her robe, Chihiro was suddenly lifted a foot above the ground and hurled forward.

"Wha-?" she asked confusedly as she glided at a sickeningly fast pace. She tried to pry whatever it was that was holding her away, but her hands swiped uselessly at the air.

The sudden turning of sharp corners gave her whiplash, and the hallways rushed past her vision in a whirl of colors. It was like she was falling down one long kaleidoscope, one that was seriously giving her motion sickness.

By the time she was thrown out the entrance, her head felt horribly heavy and her vision was spinning, and she was about to fall over when a pair of arms caught her.

"Woah, there!" Lin said, trying to steady the girl. "Sen, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

Chihiro willed herself not to cry. This was the first time anybody was asking her if she was okay, and she was most definitely not.

From receiving a not-so-warm welcome from the guy she'd been searching for to being forced to work in another world for a whole month, Chihiro wasn't all that thrilled. And with that one question of "Are you okay?", it seemed that Lin was the only one here who understood that humans actually had feelings.

Still, Chihiro bottled up her frustration. She didn't want to show just how much she regretted every decision she'd made that had brought her to this point. The fact that Yubaba had somehow seen her without being nearby was a little unsettling, and Chihiro would not show any weakness now that there was a possibility that she was being watched.

So, she looked at Lin and said, "I'm fine."

Lin took a step away to scrutinize the girl. "What were you doing in there?"

Chihiro sighed. "I wanted to talk to Yubaba about some… complications that I was having this morning. But it's okay now."

She began to walk to the elevator before Lin could ask her any more questions.

"By the way," she began as Lin caught up next to her, "were you looking for me for something? Why are you up here?"

Lin gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, I almost had a panic attack when I woke up and you weren't there. For a second I thought that I'd only dreamed that you'd return. But people were starting to hear from Chichiyaku that you were here, so everybody was asking about you."

Chihiro pursed her lips, trying her best not to groan. After the morning's events, she'd forgotten just how awkward it had been to re-meet just a handful of spirits, and now she had to look forward to doing the same with a whole bathhouse of them.

"I looked everywhere for you," Lin continued. "After I couldn't find you on any of the other floors, I figured you must have gone up to see Yubaba. That's when you burst out of those doors like you'd seen a ghost or something."

Chihiro sighed. "Yeah, I would have fallen on my face if you hadn't been there. Thanks for that."

Lin laughed as they stepped into the elevator and pulled the lever. "No problem."

The doors closed, and Chihiro rubbed her temples with her fore and middle fingers, easing away the tension and mentally giving herself a pep talk.

Just because Haku had turned out to be a bigger jerk than Daisuke didn't mean that she had to permanently sink to anger and depression. And just because she was forced to work here for a month didn't mean that she couldn't have fun. For one, she didn't have to worry about schoolwork or exams, and spending some time away from home would hopefully give her a newfound sense of independence. Similarly, her parents would not be here to breathe down her neck every time she let her room go untidy or stayed out past curfew.

She nodded to herself, feeling better and better about her situation. She would not let a few bits of disappointing news dictate the rest of her day.

And so what if all five-hundred-and-something workers knew she was back? They were bound to find out eventually.

She was hopeful that greeting everyone wouldn't be as bad as she initially thought. With any luck, she'd return to the main floor and everyone would be so busy with work that her presence would go generally unnoticed. Besides, there was no way that every single worker would react the same way Chichiyaku had. Her return really wasn't anything to celebrate.

And what was the worst that could happen? It wasn't like anybody was throwing her a surprise party, and Chihiro snorted at the thought.

"SURPRISE!" came a chorus of roughly five-hundred-and-something workers once the elevator doors parted.

Chihiro gasped, taking a step further back into the elevator. "W-what?"

The once-empty lobby was now completely filled with what Chihiro guessed to be every single worker in the building. Some were even hanging over the banisters on the upper levels, scrambling to catch even a glimpse of her.

Somewhere in the scene, a band of shakuhachi flutes were screeching above the commotion of the cheering workers. Those who watched from the levels above began to toss handfuls of cherry-blossom petals down over the ledges.

Red paper fans flapped everywhere, and hanging down from the ceiling was a long, red banner that had "Sen" scrawled into it.

This couldn't be happening.

Lin laughed at the girl's shocked expression. "We all wanted to throw you a little surprise party on your first day back. Isn't it impressive?"

Chihiro forced a smile, though she was certain it looked more like a grimace. "Well, that's one word for it."

One of the workers reached out and took Chihiro by the arm. Before she could object, she was pulled into the eager crowd, swallowed by a sea of red and noise.

Immediately, she was hit with a wave of, "Sen, you're back!" "Look how you've grown!" "We've missed you!" "How did you lose you memories?" "Do you still remember me?" "How about me?" "No, me!"

She couldn't even answer one question without another being thrown her way, and her anxiety levels quickly reached their peak. She was passed around from one group of people to the next like a piece of meat, too overwhelmed to struggle. She'd never thought that she was much of a claustrophobic, but were these few seconds proving her horribly wrong.

"Make way, make way!" came the voice directly next to her, and the sea of people backed up to form a small circle around her. It wasn't exactly comfortable being confined by a ring of people, but she was at least able to breathe normally again.

"Sorry about that, Sen," came the owner of the voice. Chichiyaku. "We're all just excited to see you." Then, to the masses like he was leading a pep rally: "Isn't that right?!"

The crowd cheered in agreement.

A man who, like Chichiyaku, had frog-like features stepped forward. Unlike Chichiyaku however, he had beady, black eyes and a brown rectangular mustache. He stood apart from the other male workers in the sense that he wore a light-blue tunic while the others wore beige ones.

"Sen," he said, coming over the take her hand in his. "Because I am told you have lost your memories, I am Aniyaku, the assistant manager here. We are all so very delighted to have you back!"

"Thank you for having me," Chihiro said, addressing not only Aniyaku but also the whole bathhouse. "I look forward to working with you… again."

The crowd chuckled, though she hadn't meant to be funny.

"Well then," Chichiyaku said. "Shall we continue the party?"

Everyone cheered. Well, everyone except Chihiro.

"Does Yubaba know about all of this?" she whispered into Chichiyaku's ear as the music started again. "Won't she be mad that we're doing this instead of work?"

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I called her and she said it was fine."

So that's why the witch's phone, or rather _skull,_ had rung before.

"So technically," Chichiyaku continued, "your first day is actually tomorrow. Isn't that great? That means you get to spend one day longer here!"

It took every ounce of Chihiro's being to stretch her mouth into a smile. "Yeah, that's great."

Inwardly, she was furious. Did Yubaba think this was _funny? _ That keeping Chihiro away from her friends and family and _world _was one big game?

Her internal pep talk from before had been long forgotten. She'd only been lying to herself, anyway. Screw the fact that she didn't have to study or listen to her parents. Screw her independence. She just wanted to go home.

People continued to crowd around her like she was a celebrity, throwing her a barrage of questions that she had no idea how to answer.

One woman approached her and said, "Do you at least remember me? Thanks to you, I was regurgitated by that No-Face!"

Even if she did have her memories, how was anybody supposed to respond to that?

She'd long given up looking for Lin in the massive crowd. Though it would have been nice to have someone she was comfortable with by her side, it probably wouldn't have done much to help her out in the long run.

But she did get a lucky break. Eventually, a handful of workers emerged from a nearby room holding ridiculously large trays of hot, steaming food. As if this was a sign from the gods themselves, everybody averted their attention from Chihiro to the dishes.

Chihiro took this opportunity to bow out from the crowds, practically sprinting towards the empty corridor at the side of the lobby. She stumbled through it and threw a quick glance behind her. Luckily, everyone was still distracted by the food, and she found it a bit ironic that she, the subject of all the commotion, could wander away so easily unnoticed.

She continued to walk down the hall, the sounds of the party growing more and more distant. She wasn't sure where she was going, only knowing that she was escaping the shoving and the questions and the overall lack of privacy. And that was good enough for her.

Eventually, she came across the building's public restrooms, marked by the male symbol on one door and the female symbol on the other. She entered the girls' room, feeling the need to splash some water onto her face. Hopefully, it would help her re-organize her thoughts.

She entered quietly, figuring that at least one person would be inside. Fortunately, she was the only occupant.

Stylistically, the bathroom appeared to be quite modern compared to the general Japanese theme of other parts of the bathhouse. The floor was comprised of tan, shiny marble, and the walls were painted a deep gold with white floral-pattern. There were six bathroom stalls to the right, and four porcelain sinks to the left. A small, diamond-encrusted chandelier hung from the center of the room.

The place was sure nicer than where Chihiro and the other workers slept at night.

She headed for the sinks, turning the faucet on and letting the water pool into her hands. She gently splashed her face, letting the water cool her skin. It helped a little, leaving her feeling more refreshed and calm than she had been all morning. She grabbed one of the small, folded towels next to the sink and pat-dried her face.

She stared into the mirror, wondering how a mystery she'd been so eager to solve could turn into such a train wreck of rage and anxiety. Placing the towel back down, she gathered her hair into a ponytail, tying it in place with the sparkly hair-tie that'd been bound to her wrist.

With her new hairstyle, she continued to stare at her reflection.

What did the people here see her as? Was it _this, _the same way she'd looked as a ten-year-old?

She certainly felt like a different person than her past self. She'd always believed that it was the memories that made up a person. So without hers, was she somebody else altogether? Was she split into two separate entities, her past self and her current self? Was it her missing memories that held the key to bridge this gap?

She sighed, taking the tie out and placing it next to the sink. Though she'd decided she didn't even want her memories anymore, she didn't really have much of a say since she was essentially being forced into labor. And until her month was up, all she could do about her identity crisis was wonder.

Just then, the very last bathroom stall flew open, slamming so hard against the wall that it sounded like a bullet had been fired from a gun.

Chihiro jumped, spinning around toward the noise. Maybe there had been someone in here all along.

Standing inside the stall was a tall figure, completely hidden underneath a long, red cloak. Its hood was almost entirely pulled over its face, but Chihiro could see that it wore a white, expressionless mask. It glided over to Chihiro, looking like it was actually floating in the air like a sheet in the wind. It stopped just several feet away and stared at her through its mask.

Chihiro felt immediately uneasy. Well, she supposed any girl would if she was approached by a hooded figure in the bathroom.

"Hello," the figure said in a deep, male voice.

Chihiro wanted to tell him that the men's bathroom was right next door, but she got the feeling this guy had put himself in here on purpose. And that was highly unsettling.

"H-hello…" she said, inching her way towards the exit. She wondered how fast this guy was should she start to run.

He took a step closer. "Red paper," he said, "or blue paper?"

_Paper _had been the key word, and Chihiro immediately knew what this guy was. Every Japanese student did.

He was the Aka Manto.

As an elementary-schooler, she'd learned through the general gossip of her peers all about the Aka Manto. It was said to haunt public and school restrooms, and would ask unsuspecting victims whether they wanted red or blue paper. Choosing red paper would result in the victim being sliced apart until his clothes were stained red, and choosing blue paper would result in the victim being strangled until his face turned blue.

But as Chihiro and her peers grew older, tales of the Aka Manto stopped circulating. It was, after all, just a silly urban legend.

But now, Chihiro wished that she'd taken the tales seriously, because she could not remember what to do or say that would let her escape unscathed.

The pace of her breathing quickened, and several beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. She was in a life-or-death situation, and she couldn't even rely on her fight-or-flight instinct. This required logic.

Obviously, choosing between red or blue paper was out of the question. She could flat-out scream for help, but in some versions of the stories she'd heard, screaming would result in an immediate death. The same went for running away.

She recalled _something _about choosing a different colored paper, but what did that result in? Was that the key to her survival, or did it just lead to an inevitable death like all the other options?

"Red paper," the Aka Manto said again, a little more desperation in his voice, "or blue paper?"

And what would happen if she just kept silent? If screaming meant death, would silence mean safety?

"You're time's almost up," he said, his voice both smooth and venomous. "You must give me an answer. Red paper, or blue paper?"

Taking a deep breath, Chihiro squared her shoulders. She had to have confidence that what she was about to say would be the right answer.

"I choose green paper," she said.

The Aka Manto took a step back. "Green paper… you say?"

Chihiro nodded once.

"I see," he said.

And then a dozen ghostly arms shot through the floor directly below her, breaking apart the marble like it was nothing. They grabbed Chihiro, wrapping around the entirety of her body and digging into her flesh. She screamed, struggling against the arms that were now pulling her through the gaping hole in the ground.

Her efforts were futile, and one of the arms covered her mouth to mute her screams. Haku entered her mind then, and strangely, she was utterly devastated that she would never see him again.

The last thing she saw before she went under was the Aka Manto's white mask. She'd previously thought it was expressionless, but now, she could see that it was smiling.

* * *

Haku stormed out of Yubaba's office in a rage.

The ignorant, conniving witch had failed to mention to him that Chihiro had already signed a working contract. Why? Because she knew he'd be furious.

And he was furious all right. He did not disappoint her in that regard.

After his encounter with Chihiro on the bridge, he'd tried to convince Yubaba to terminate the girl's contract. In actuality, he'd more _threatened _than convinced. But the witch never wavered. In fact, she enjoyed Haku's blatant fury, which nearly drove him insane.

The witch seemed to always want to forget that Haku was also the rightful owner of the bathhouse, and he had as every say in who worked there as she did. She was supposed to confer with him _before _they hired anybody, but this time around, she didn't. And since Chihiro already signed the contract, there was nothing he could do about it.

Yubaba was planning something, and he would not rest until he knew what it was.

He warned her that if Chihiro's safety was ever compromised under the contract, he would not hesitate to take physical action. He _warned _her. Still, the witch was not concerned. In terms of strength, she and Haku were equals. In terms of confidence however, Yubaba won, and she believed that she would be the victor in the event of a fight. Of course, that theory was never tested, but it very well would be should there ever be so much as a scratch on Chihiro by Yubaba's hand.

He decided then that he'd need to considerably cut the number of times he left the bathhouse. He would not leave Chihiro alone here, and -

He stopped dead in his tracks.

He heard it.

Even through all the music, all the talking, all the commotion in the lobby, he heard it.

Chihiro's scream.

His biggest fear was already coming true.

* * *

**A/N I can't tell you when the next update will be, and I seriously don't want it to be so long again. But the semester ends soon, so I'm hoping some time will open up for me in the near future. Please review; the more feedback I receive, the faster I write :)**


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